FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  NAVAL  LIFE 


BY 

CAPT.  A.  T.  MAHAN 

U.S.N.  (RETIRED) 

author  of 
'the  influence  of  sea-power  upon  history"  etc. 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
LONDON    AND    NEW    YORK 

M  C  M  V  I  I 


V/9 


Copyright,  1906,  1907,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 
All  rislits  reserved. 

Published  October,  1907. 
Printed  in   United  States  of  A  merica. 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

Preface      v 

Introducing  Myself ix 

I.  Naval  Conditions  Before  the  War  op  Secession — the 

Officers  and  Seamen 3 

II.  Naval  Conditions  Before  the  War  of  Secession — the 

Vessels 25 

III.  The  Naval  Academy  in  its  Relation  to  the  Navy  at 

Large 45 

IV.  The  Naval  Academy  in  its  Interior  Workings — Prac- 

tice Cruises 70 

V.  My  First  Cruise  after  Graduation — Nautical  Char- 

acters      103 

VI.  My  First  Cruise  after  Graduation — Nautical  Scenes 

and  Scenery — the  Approach  of  Disunion     .     .     .     .  127 

VII.  Incidents  of  War  and  Blockade  Service 156 

VIII.  Incidents  of  War  and  Blockade  Service — Continued  179 

IX.  A  Roundabout  Road  to  China 196 

X.  China  and  Japan 229 

XI.  The  Turning  of  a  Long  Lane— Historical,  Naval,  and 

Personal 266 

XII.  Experiences  of  Authorship 302 


PREFACE 

When  I  was  a  boy,  some  years  before  I  obtained  my 
appointment  in  the  navy,  I  spent  many  of  those  happy 
hours  that  only  childhood  knows  poring  over  the  back 
numbers  of  a  British  service  periodical,  which  began  its 
career  in  1828,  with  the  title  Colburn's  United  Service  Mag- 
azine; under  which  name,  save  and  except  the  Colburn,  it 
still  survives.  Besides  weightier  matters,  its  early  issues 
abounded  in  reminiscences  by  naval  officers,  then  yet  in 
the  prime  of  life,  who  had  served  through  the  great  Napo- 
leonic wars.  More  delightful  still,  it  had  numerous  nautical 
stories,  based  probably  on  facts,  serials  under  such  en- 
trancing titles  as  "Leaves  from  my  Log  Book,"  by  Flexible 
Grommet,  Passed  Midshipman;  a  pen-name,  the  nautical 
felicity  of  which  will  be  best  appreciated  by  one  who  has 
had  the  misfortune  to  handle  a  grommet^  which  was  not 
flexible.  Then  there  was  "The  Order  Book,"  by  Jonathan 
Oldjunk;  an  epithet  so  suggestive  of  the  waste-heap,  even 
to  a  landsman's  ears,  that  one  marvels  a  man  ever  took  it 
mito  himself,  especially  in  that  decline  of  life  when  we  are 
more  sensitive  on  the  subject  of  bodily  disabilities  than 
once  we  were.  Old  junk,  however,  can  yet  be  "worked 
up,"  as  the  sea  expression  goes,  into  other  uses,  and  that 
perhaps  was  what  Mr.  Oldjmik  meant;  his  early  adventures 
as  a  young  "luff"  were,  for  economical  reasons,  worked  up 

*  Worcester,  quoting  from  Falconei-'s  Marine  Dictionary,  defines 
"Grommet"  as  "a  small  ring  or  wreath,  formed  of  the  strand  of  a 
rope,  used  for  various  purposes." 

V 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

into  their  present  literary  shape,  with  the  addition  of  a 
certain  amount  of  extraneous  matter — love-making,  and  the 
like.  Indeed,  so  far  from  uselessness,  that  veteran  seaman 
and  rigid  economist,  the  Earl  of  St.  Vincent,  when  First 
Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  had  given  to  a  specific  form  of 
old  junk — viz.,  "shakings" — the  honors  of  a  special  order, 
for  the  preservation  thereof,  the  which  forms  the  staple 
of  a  comical  anecdote  in  Basil  Hall's  Fragments  of 
Voyages  and  Travels;  itself  a  superior  example  of  the  in- 
structive "recollections,"  of  less  literary  merit,  which  but 
for  Colburn's  would  have  perished. 

Any  one  who  has  attempted  to  write  history  knows  what 
queer  nuggets  of  useful  information  lie  hidden  away  in  such 
papers;  how  they  often  help  to  reconstruct  an  incident,  or 
determine  a  mooted  point.  If  the  Greeks,  after  the  Pelo- 
poimesian  war,  had  had  a  Colburn's,  we  should  have  a  more 
certain,  if  not  a  perfect,  clew  to  the  reconstruction  of  the 
trireme;  and  probably  even  could  deduce  with  some 
accuracy  the  daily  routine,  the  several  duties,  and  hear  the 
professional  jokes  and  squabbles,  of  their  officers  and  crews. 
The  serious  people  who  write  history  can  never  fill  the  place 
of  the  gossips,  who  pour  out  an  unpremeditated  mixture 
of  intimate  knowledge  and  idle  trash. 

Trash?  Upon  the  whole  is  not  the  trash  the  truest  his- 
tory? perhaps  not  the  most  valuable,  but  the  most  real? 
If  you  want  contemporary  color,  contemporary  atmosphere, 
you  must  seek  it  among  the  impressions  which  can  be  ob- 
tained only  from  those  who  have  lived  a  life  amid  particu- 
lar surroundings,  which  they  breathe  and  which  colors  them 
— dyes  them  in  the  wool.  However  skilless,  they  cannot 
help  reproducing,  any  more  than  water  poured  from  an  old 
ink-bottle  can  help  coming  out  more  or  less  black;  although, 
if  sufficiently  pretentious,  they  can  monstrously  caricature, 
especially  if  they  begin  with  the  modest  time-worn  ad- 
mission that  they  are  more  familiar  with  the  marlingspike 

vi 


PREFACE 

than  with  the  pen.  But  even  the  caricature  born  of  pre- 
tentiousness will  not  prevent  the  unpremeditated  be- 
trayal of  conditions,  facts,  and  incidents,  which  help  re- 
construct the  milieu;  how  much  more,  then,  the  unaffected 
simplicity  of  the  born  story-teller.  I  do  not  know  how 
Froissart  ranks  as  an  authority  with  historians.  I  have 
not  read  him  for  years;  and  my  recollections  are  chiefly 
those  of  childhood,  with  all  the  remoteness  and  all  the 
vividness  which  memory  preserves  from  early  impressions. 
I  think  I  now  might  find  him  wearisome;  not  so  in  boy- 
hood. He  was  to  me  then,  and  seems  to  me  now,  a  glorified 
Flexible  Grommet  or  Jonathan  Oldjunk;  ranking,  as  to 
them,  as  Boswell  does  towards  the  common  people  of 
biography.  That  there  are  many  solid  chunks  of  useful 
information  to  be  dug  out  of  him  I  am  sure ;  that  his  stories 
are  all  true,  I  have  no  desire  to  question;  but  what  among 
it  all  is  so  instructive,  so  entertaining,  as  the  point  of  view 
of  himself,  his  heroes,  and  his  colloquists — the  particular 
contemporary  modificatioi^,  of  universal  human  nature  in 
which  he  lived,  and  moved,  and  had  his  being? 

If  such  a  man  has  the  genius  of  his  business,  as  had  Frois- 
sart and  Boswell,  he  excels  in  proportion  to  his  unconscious- 
ness of  the  fact;  his  colors  run  truer.  For  lesser  gabblers, 
who  have  not  genius,  the  best  way  to  lose  consciousness  is 
just  to  let  themselves  go;  if  they  endeavor  to  paint  ar- 
tistically the  muddle  will  be  worse.  To  such  the  proverb 
of  the  cobbler  and  his  last  is  of  perennial  warning.  As  a 
barber  once  sagely  remarked  to  me,  "You  can't  trim  a 
beard  well,  unless  you're  bom  to  it."  It  is  possible  in  some 
degree  to  imitate  Froissart  and  Boswell  in  that  marvellous 
diligence  to  accumulate  material  which  was  common  to 
them  both;  but,  when  gathered,  how  impossible  it  is  to 
work  up  that  old  junk  into  permanent  engrossing  interest 
let  those  answer  who  have  grappled  with  ancient  chronicles, 
or  with  many  biographies.    So,   with  a  circumlocution 

vii 


FROM    SAII.    TO    STEAM 

which  probably  convicts  me  in  advance  of  decisive  de- 
ficiency as  a  narrator,  I  let  myself  go.  I  have  no  model, 
miless  it  be  the  old  man  sitting  m  the  sim  on  a  summer's 
day,  bringing  forth  out  of  his  memories  things  new  and 
old — ^mostly  old. 

A.  T.  Mahan. 


INTRODUCING    MYSELF 

While  extracts  from  the  following  pages  were  appearing 
in  Harper's  Magazine,  I  received  a  letter  from  a  reader 
hoping  that  I  would  say  something  about  myself  before 
entering  the  navy.  This  had  been  outside  my  purpose, 
which  was  chiefly  to  narrate  what  had  passed  around  me 
that  I  thought  interesting;  but  it  seems  possibly  fit  to 
establish  m  a  few  words  my  antecedents  by  heredity  and 
environment. 

I  was  born  September  27,  1840,  within  the  boundaries  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  but  not  upon  its  territory;  the 
place.  West  Point  on  the  Hudson  River,  having  been  ceded 
to  the  General  Government  for  the  purposes  of  the  Military 
Academy,  at  which  my  father,  Dennis  Hart  Mahan,  was 
then  Professor  of  Engineering,  as  well  Civil  as  Military. 
He  himself  was  of  pure  Irish  blood,  his  father  and  mother, 
already  married,  having  emigrated  together  from  the  old 
country  early  in  the  last  century;  but  he  was  also  American 
by  birthright,  having  been  born  in  April,  1802,  very  soon 
after  the  arrival  of  his  parents  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
There  also  he  was  baptized  into  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
in  the  parish  of  St.  Peter's,  the  church  building  of  which 
now  stands  far  down  town,  in  Barclay  Street.  It  is  not,  I 
believe,  the  same  that  existed  m  1802. 

Very  soon  afterwards,  before  he  reached  an  age  to  re- 
member, his  parents  removed  to  Norfolk,  Virginia,  where 
he  grew  up  and  formed  his  earliest  associations.  As  is 
usual,  these  colored  his  whole  life;  he  was  always  a  Vir- 

ix 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

ginian  in  attacliinent  and  preference.  In  the  days  of  crisis 
he  remained  firm  to  the  Union,  by  conviction  and  affection; 
but  he  broke  no  friendships,  and  to  the  end  there  continued 
in  him  that  surest  positive  indicat?6n  of  local  fondness,  ad- 
miration for  the  women  of  what  was  to  him  his  native  land. 
In  beauty,  in  manner,  and  in  charm,  they  surpassed. 
"Your  mother  is  Northern,"  he  once  said  to  me,  "and 
very  few  can  approach  her;  but  still,  in  the  general,  none 
compare  for  me  with  the  Southern  woman."  The  same 
causes,  early  association,  gave  him  a  very  pronounced  dis- 
like to  England;  for  he  could  remember  the  War  of  1812, 
and  had  experienced  the  embittered  feeling  which  was 
probably  nowhere  fiercer  than  around  the  shores  of  the 
Chesapeake,  the  scene  of  the  most  wide-spread  devastation 
inflicted,  partly  from  motives  of  policy,  partly  as  measures 
of  retaliation.  Spending  afterwards  three  or  four  years  of 
early  manhood  in  France,  he  there  imbibed  a  warm  liking 
for  the  people,  among  whom  he  contracted  several  in- 
timacies. He  there  knew  personally  Laflyette  and  his 
family;  receiving  from  them  the  hospitality  which  the 
Marquis'  service  in  the  War  of  Independence,  and  his 
then  recent  ovation  during  his  tour  of  the  United  States 
in  1825,  prompted  him  to  extend  to  Americans.  This 
communication  with  a  man  who  could  tell,  and  did  tell  him, 
intimate  stories  of  intercourse  with  Washington  doubtless 
emphasized  my  father's  patriotic  prejudices  as  well  as  his 
patriotism.  When  he  revisited  France,  in  1856,  he  found 
many  former  friends  still  alive,  and  when  I  myself  went 
there  for  the  first  time,  in  1870,  he  asked  me  too  to  himt 
them  up;  but  they  had  all  then  disappeared.  His  fond- 
ness for  the  French  doubtless  accentuated  his  repugnance 
to  the  English,  at  that  time  still  their  traditional  enemy. 
The  combination  of  Irish  and  French  prepossession  could 
scarcely  have  resulted  otherwise ;  and  thus  was  evolved  an 
atmosphere  in  which  I  was  brought  up,  not  only  passively 


INTRODUCING    MYSELF 

absorbing,  but  to  a  certain  degree  actively  impressed  with 
love  for  France  and  the  Southern  section  of  the  United 
States,  while  learning  to  look  askance  upon  England  and 
abolitionists.  The  experiences  of  life,  together  with  sub- 
sequent reading  and  reflection,  modified  and  in  the  end 
entirely  overcame  these  early  prepossessions. 

My  father  was  for  over  forty  years  professor  at  West 
Point,  of  which  he  had  been  a  graduate.  In  short,  the 
Academy  was  his  life,  and  he  there  earned  what  I  think 
I  am  modest  in  calling  a  distinguished  reputation.  The 
best  proof  of  this  perhaps  is  that  at  even  so  early  a  date  in 
our  national  history  as  his  graduation  from  the  Academy, 
in  1824,  he  was  thought  an  officer  of  such  promise  as  to 
make  it  expedient  to  send  him  to  France  for  the  higher 
military  education  in  which  the  country  of  Napoleon  and 
his  marshals  then  stood  pre-eminent.  From  1820,  when  he 
entered  the  Academy  as  a  pupil,  to  his  death  in  1871,  he  was 
detached  from  it  only  these  three  or  four  years.  Yet  this 
determination  of  his  life's  work  proceeded  from  a  mere 
accident,  scarcely  more  than  a  boy's  fancy.  He  had  begun 
the  study  of  medicine,  under  Dr.  Archer,  of  Richmond ;  but 
he  had  a  very  strong  wish  to  learn  drawing.  In  those 
primitive  days  the  opportunity  of  mstruction  was  wanting 
where  he  lived;  and  hearing  that  it  was  taught  at  the 
Military  Academy  he  set  to  work  for  an  appointment,  not 
from  inclination  to  the  calling  of  a  soldier,  but  as  a  means 
to  this  particular  end.  It  is  rather  singular  that  he  should 
have  had  no  bias  towards  the  profession  of  arms;  for  al- 
though he  drifted  almost  from  the  first  into  the  civil 
branch,  as  a  teacher  and  then  professor,  I  have  never 
known  a  man  of  more  strict  and  lofty  military  ideas.  The 
spirit  of  the  profession  was  strong  in  him,  though  he  cared 
little  for  its  pride,  pomp,  and  circumstance.  I  believe 
that  in  this  observation  others  who  knew  him  well  agreed 
with  me. 

xi 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

The  work  of  a  teacher,  however  important  and  absorbing 
in  itself,  does  not  usually  offer  much  of  interest  to  readers. 
My  father,  by  the  personal  contact  of  teacher  and  taught, 
knew  almost  every  one  of  the  distinguished  generals  who 
fought  in  the  War  of  Secession,  on  either  the  Union  or  the 
Confederate  side.  With  scarcely  an  exception,  they  had 
been  his  pupils;  but  his  own  life  was  uneventful.  He 
married,  in  1839,  Mary  Helena  Okill,  of  New  York  City. 
My  mother's  father  was  English,  her  mother  an  American, 
but  with  a  strong  strain  of  French  blood;  her  maiden 
name,  Mary  Jay,  being  that  of  a  Huguenot  family  which 
had  left  France  under  Louis  XIV.  By  the  time  of  her 
birth,  in  1786,  a  good  deal  of  American  admixture  had 
doubtless  qualified  the  original  French;  but  I  remember 
her  well,  and  though  she  lived  to  be  seventy-three,  she  had 
up  to  the  last  a  vivacity  and  keen  enjoyment  of  life,  more 
French  than  American,  reflected  from  quick  black  eyes, 
which  fairly  danced  with  animation  through  her  interest 
in  her  surroundings. 

From  my  derivation,  therefore,  I  am  a  pretty  fair  illus- 
tration of  the  mix-up  of  bloods  which  seems  destined  to 
bring  forth  some  new  and  yet  undecipherable  combination 
on  the  North  American  continent.  One-half  Irish,  one- 
fourth  English,  and  a  good  deal  more  than  "a  trace"  of 
French,  would  appear  to  be  the  showing  of  a  quantitative 
analysis.  Yet,  as  far  as  I  understand  my  personality,  I 
think  to  see  in  the  result  the  predominance  which  the 
English  strain  has  usually  asserted  for  itself  over  others. 
I  have  none  of  the  gregariousness  of  either  the  French  or 
Irish;  and  while  I  have  no  difficulty  in  entering  into  civil 
conversation  with  a  stranger  who  addresses  me,  I  rarely 
begin,  having,  upon  the  whole,  a  preference  for  an  intro- 
duction. This  is  not  perverseness,  but  lack  of  facility; 
and  I  believe  Froissart  noted  something  of  the  same  in 
the  Englishmen  of  five  hundred  years  ago.     I  have,  too, 

xii 


INTRODUCING    MYSELF 

an  abhorrence  of  public  speaking,  and  a  desire  to  slip  un- 
observed into  a  back  seat  wherever  I  am,  which  amount  to 
a  mania;  but  I  am  bound  to  admit  I  get  both  these  dis- 
positions from  my  father,  whose  Irishry  was  undiluted  by 
foreign  admixture. 

In  my  boyhood,  till  I  was  nearly  ten.  West  Point  was  a 
very  sequestered  place.  It  was  accessible  only  by  steam- 
boats; and  during  great  part  of  the  winter  months  not  by 
them,  the  Hudson  being  frozen  over  most  of  the  season  as 
far  as  ten  to  twenty  miles  lower  down.  The  railroad  was 
not  running  before  1848,  and  then  it  followed  the  east  bank 
of  the  river.  One  of  my  early  recollections  is  of  begging 
off  from  school  one  day,  long  enough  to  go  to  a  part  of  the 
post  distant  from  our  house,  whence  I  caught  my  first 
sight  of  a  train  of  cars  on  the  opposite  shore.  Another 
recollection  is  of  the  return  of  a  company  of  engineer 
soldiers  from  the  War  with  Mexico.  The  detachment  was 
drawn  up  for  inspection  where  we  boys  could  see  it.  One 
of  the  men  had  grown  a  full  beard,  a  sight  to  me  then  as 
novel  as  the  railroad,  and  I  announced  it  at  home  as  a 
most  interesting  fact.  I  had  as  yet  seen  only  clean-shaven 
faces.  Among  my  other  recollections  of  childhood  are,  as 
superintendent  of  the  Academy,  Colonel  Robert  E.  Lee, 
afterwards  the  great  Confederate  leader;  and  McClellan, 
then  a  junior  engmeer  officer. 

As  my  boyhood  advanced  the  abolition  movement  was' 
gaining  strength,  to  the  great  disapprobation  and  dismay 
of  my  father,  with  his  strong  Southern  and  Union  sym- 
pathies. I  remember  that  when  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  came 
out,  in  my  twelfth  year,  the  master  of  the  school  I  attended 
gave  me  a  copy;  being  himself,  I  presume,  one  of  the 
rising  party  adverse  to  slavery.  My  father  took  it  out  of 
my  hands,  and  I  came  to  regard  it  much  as  I  would  a 
bottle  labelled  "Poison."  In  consequence  I  never  read  it 
in  the  days  of  its  vogue,  and  I  have  to  admit  that  since 

xiii 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

then,  in  mature  years,  I  have  not  been  able  to  continue  it 
after  beginning.  The  same  motives,  in  great  part,  led  to  my 
being  sent  to  a  boarding-school  in  Maryland,  near  Hagers- 
town,  which  drew  its  pupils  very  largely,  though  not  exclu- 
sively, from  the  South.  The  environment  would  be  upon 
the  whole  Southern.  I  remained  there,  however,  only  two 
years,  my  father  becoming  dissatisfied  with  my  progress 
in  mathematics.  In  1854,  therefore,  I  matriculated  as 
a  freshman  at  Columbia  College  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
where  I  remained  till  I  went  to  the  Naval  Academy. 

My  entrance  into  the  navy  was  greatly  against  my 
father's  wish.  I  do  not  remember  all  his  arguments,  but 
he  told  me  he  thought  me  much  less  fit  for  a  military  than 
for  a  civil  profession,  having  watched  me  carefully.  I 
think  myself  now  that  he  was  right;  for,  though  I  have  no 
cause  to  complain  of  unsuccess,  I  believe  I  should  have 
done  better  elsewhere.  While  thus  more  than  dissenting 
from  my  choice,  he  held  that  a  child  should  not  be  per- 
emptorily thwarted  in  his  scheme  of  life.  Consequently, 
while  he  would  not  actively  help  me  in  the  doubtful  under- 
taking of  obtaining  an  appointment,  which  depended  then 
as  now  upon  the  representative  from  the  congressional  dis- 
trict, he  gave  me  the  means  to  go  to  Washington,  and  also 
two  or  three  letters  to  personal  friends;  among  them  Jef- 
ferson Davis,  then  Secretary  of  War,  and  James  Watson 
Webb,  a  prominent  character  in  New  York  journalism 
and  in  politics,  both  state  and  national. 

Thus  equipped,  I  started  for  Washington  on  the  first  day 
of  1856,  being  then  three  months  over  fifteen.  As  I  think 
now  of  my  age,  and  more  than  usual  diffidence,  and  of  my 
mission,  to  win  the  favor  of  a  politician  who  had  constit- 
uents to  reward,  whereas  to  all  my  family  practical  politics 
were  as  foreign  as  Sanskrit,  I  know  not  whether  the  situation 
were  more  comical  or  pathetic.  On  the  way  I  foregathered 
with  a  Southern  lad,  some  three  years  my  senior,  returning 

xiv 


INTRODUCING    MYSELF 

home  from  England,  where  he  had  been  at  school.  He 
beguiled  the  time  by  stories  of  his  experiences,  to  me 
passing  strange;  and  I  remember,  in  crossing  the  Susque- 
hanna, which  was  then  by  ferry-boat,  looking  at  the 
fields  of  ice  fragments,  I  said  it  would  be  unpleasant  to 
fall  in.  "I  would  sooner  have  a  knife  stuck  into  me,"  he 
replied.  I  wonder  what  became  of  him,  for  I  never  knew 
his  name.  Of  course  he  entered  the  Confederate  army; 
but  what  besides? 

I  remember  my  week's  stay  in  Washington  nmch  as  I 
suppose  a  man  overboard  remembers  the  incidents  of  that 
experience.  Memory  is  an  odd  helpmate;  why  some 
circumstances  take  hold  and  others  not  is  "one  of  those 
things  no  fellow  can  find  out."  I  saw  the  member  of 
Congress,  who  I  find  by  reference  to  have  been  Ambrose 
9?  Murray,  representative  of  the  district  within  which 
West  Point  lay.  He  received  me  kindly,  but  with  the 
reserve  characteristic  of  most  interviews  where  one  party 
desires  a  favor  for  which  he  has  nothing  in  exchange  to 
offer.  I  think,  however,  that  Mr.  Webb,  with  whom  and 
his  family  I  breakfasted  one  day,  said  some  good  words 
for  me.  Jefferson  Davis  was  a  graduate  of  the  Military 
Academy,  of  1827 ;  and  although  his  term  there  had  over- 
lapped my  father's  by  only  one  year,  his  interest  in  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  army  had  maintained  between  them 
an  acquaintance  approaching  intimacy.  He  therefore  was 
very  cordial  to  the  boy  before  him,  and  took  me  round  to 
the  office  of  the  then  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Mr.  James  C. 
Dobbin,  of  North  Carolina;  just  why  I  do  not  understand 
yet,  as  the  Secretary  could  not  influence  my  immediate 
object.  Perhaps  he  felt  the  need  of  a  friendly  chat;  for  I 
remember  that,  after  presenting  me,  the  two  sat  down  and 
discussed  the  President's  Message,  of  which  Davis  exprc'ssed 
a  warm  approval.  This  being  the  time  of  the  protracted 
contest  over  the  Speakership,  which  ended  in  the  election 

XV 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

of  Banks,  I  suppose  the  colleagues  were  talking  about  a 
document  which  was  then  ready,  and  familiar  to  them, 
but  which  was  not  actually  sent  to  Congress  until  it  or- 
ganized, some  weeks  after  this  interview.  Probably  their 
conversation  was  the  aftermath  of  a  cabinet  meeting. 

I  returned  home  with  fairly  sanguine  hopes,  which  on 
the  journey  received  a  douche  of  cold  water  from  an  old 
gentleman,  a  distant  connection  of  my  family,  to  visit 
whom  I  stopped  a  few  hours  in  Philadelphia.  He  asked 
about  my  chance  of  the  appointment;  and  being  told  that 
it  seemed  good,  he  rejoined,  "Well,  I  hope  you  won't  get 
it.  I  have  known  many  naval  officers,  captains  and  lieu- 
tenants, in  different  parts  of  the  world" — for  his  time,  he 
was  then  nearly  eighty,  he  had  travelled  extensively — "  I 
have  talked  much  with  them,  and  know  that  it  is  a  pro- 
fession with  little  prospect."  Then  he  quoted  Dr.  John- 
son: "No  man  will  be  a  sailor  who  has  contrivance  enough 
to  get  himseK  into  jail;  for  being  in  a  ship  is  being  in  a 
jail  with  the  chance  of  being  drowned";  and  further  to 
overwhelm  me,  he  clinched  the  saying  by  a  comment  of 
his  own.  "  In  a  ship  of  war  you  run  the  risk  of  being  killed 
as  well  as  that  of  being  drowned."  The  interview  left  me 
a  perplexed  but  not  a  wiser  lad. 

Late  in  the  ensuing  spring  Mr.  Murray  wrote  me  that  he 
would  nominate  me  for  the  appointment.  Just  what  de- 
termined him  in  my  favor  I  do  not  certainly  know;  but, 
as  I  remember,  Mr.  Davis  had  authorized  me  to  say  to  him 
that,  if  the  place  were  given  me,  he  would  use  his  own  in- 
fluence with  President  Pierce  to  obtain  for  a  nominee  from 
his  district  a  presidential  appointment  to  the  Military 
Academy.  Mr.  Murray  replied  that  such  a  proposition 
was  very  acceptable  to  hini,  because  the  tendency  among 
his  constituents  was  much  more  to  the  army  than  to  the 
navy.  At  that  day,  besides  one  cadet  at  West  Point  for 
each  congressional  district,  which  was  in  the  gift  of  the 

xvi 


INTRODUCING    MYSELF 

representative,  the  law  permitted  the  Presideni  a  certain 
number  of  annual  appointments,  called  "At  Large";  the 
object  being  to  provide  for  sons  of  military  and  naval 
officers,  whose  lack  of  political  influence  made  it  difficult 
otherwise  to  enter  the  school.  This  presidential  privilege 
has  since  been  extended  to  the  Naval  Academy,  but  had 
not  then.  The  proposed  interchange  in  my  case,  therefore, 
would  be  practically  to  give  an  officer's  son  an  appoint- 
ment at  large  in  the  navy.  Whether  this  arrangement  was 
actually  carried  out,  I  have  never  known  nor  inquired; 
but  it  has  pleased  me  to  believe,  as  I  do,  that  I  owed  my 
entrance  to  the  United  States  navy  to  the  interposition  of 
the  first  and  only  President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy, 
whose  influence  with  Mr.  Pierce  is  a  matter  of  history. 

I  entered  the  Naval  Academy,  as  an  "acting  midship- 
man," September  30,  1856. 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  NAVAL   LIFE 


I 

NAVAL  CONDITIONS  BEFORE  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION 

THE    OFFICERS    AND    SEAMEN 

Naval  officers  who  began  their  career  in  the  fifties  of 
the  past  century,  as  I  did,  and  who  survive  till  now, 
as  very  many  do,  have  been  observant,  if  inconspicuous, 
witnesses  of  one  of  the  most  rapid  and  revolutionary  changes 
that  naval  science  and  warfare  have  ever  undergone.  It 
has  been  aptly  said  that  a  naval  captain  who  fought  the 
Invincible  Armada  would  have  been  more  at  home  in  the 
typical  war-ship  of  1840,  than  the  average  captain  of  1840 
would  have  been  in  the  advanced  types  of  the  American 
Civil  War.^  The  twenty  years  here  chosen  for  comparison 
cover  the  middle  period  of  the  century  which  has  but  re- 
cently expired.  Since  that  time  progress  has  gone  on  in 
accelerating  ratio;  and  if  the  consequent  changes  have 
been  less  radical  in  kind,  they  have  been  more  extensive  in 
scope.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  withm  the  same 
two  decades,  in  1854,  occurred  the  formal  visit  of  Commo- 
dore Perry  to  Japan,  and  the  negotiations  of  the  treaty 
bringing  her  fairly  within  the  movement  of  Western  civili- 
zation ;  starting  her  upon  the  path  which  has  resulted  in  the 
most  striking  illustration  yet  given  of  the  powers  of  modern 
naval  instruments,  ships  and  weapons,  diligently  developed 
and  elaborated  during  the  period  that  has  since  elapsed. 

'  J.  R.  Soley,  The  Blockade  and  the  Cruisers,  1883.  Scribner's,  Navy 
in  the  Civil  War. 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

Wlien  I  received  my  appointment  to  the  Naval  School 
at  Annapolis,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1856,  the  United 
States  navy  was  under  the  influence  of  one  of  those  spas- 
modic awakenings  which,  so  far  as  action  is  concerr^ed,  have 
been  the  chief  characteristic  of  American  statesmanship  in 
the  matter  of  naval  policy  up  to  twenty  years  ago.  Since 
then  there  has  been  a  more  continuous  practical  recognition 
of  the  necessity  for  a  sustained  and  consistent  development 
of  naval  power.  This  wholesome  change  has  been  coinci- 
dent with,  and  doubtless  largely  due  to,  a  change  in  appre- 
ciation of  the  importance  of  naval  power  in  the  realm  of 
international  relations,  which,  within  the  same  period,  has 
passed  over  the  world  at  large.  The  United  States  of 
America  began  its  career  under  the  Constitution  of  1789 
with  no  navy;  but  in  1794  the  intolerable  outrages  of  the 
Barbary  pirates,  and  the  humiliation  of  having  to  depend 
upon  the  armed  ships  of  Portugal  for  the  protection  of 
American  trade,  aroused  Congress  to  vote  the  building  of  a 
half-dozen  frigates,  with  the  provision,  however,  that  the 
building  should  stop  if  an  arrangement  with  Algiers  were 
reached.  Not  till  1798  was  the  navy  separated  from  the 
War  Department.  The  President  at  that  date,  John  Adams, 
was,  through  his  New  England  origin,  in  profound  sympathy 
with  all  naval  questions;  and,  while  minister  to  Great 
Britain,  in  1785,  had  had  continual  opportunity  to  observe 
the  beneficial  effect  of  maritime  activity  and  naval  power 
upon  that  kingdom.  He  had  also  bitter  experience  of  the 
insolence  of  its  government  towards  our  interests,  based 
upon  its  conscious  control  of  the  sea.  He  thus  came  into 
office  strongly  biassed  towards  naval  development.  To 
the  impulse  given  by  him  contributed  also  the  outrageous 
course  towards  our  commerce  initiated  by  the  French  Di- 
rectory, after  Bonaparte's  astounding  campaigns  in  Italy 
had  struck  down  all  opposition  to  France  save  that  of  the 
mistress  of  the  seas.    The  nation,  as  represented  in  Con- 

4 


NA^^AT.    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

gress,  woke  up,  rubbed  its  eyes,  and  built  a  small  number 
of  vessels  which  did  exemplary  service  in  the  subsequent 
quasi  war  with  France.    Provision  was  made  for  a  further 
increase;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  this  beginning, 
if  maintained,  might  have  averted  the  War  of  1812.     But 
within  four  years  revulsion  came.     Adams  gave  place  to 
Jefferson  and  Madison,  the  leaders  of  a  party  which  frankly 
and  avowedly  rejected  a  navy  as  an  element  of  national 
strength,  and  saw  in  it  only  a  menace  to  liberty.     Save  for 
the  irrepressible  marauding  of  the  Barbary  corsairs,  and 
the  impressment  of  our  seamen  by  British  ships-of-war,  the 
remnant  of  Adams'  ships  would  not  improbably  have  been 
swept  out  of  existence.    This  result  was  feared  by  naval 
officers  of  the  day;  and  with  what  good  reason  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that,  within  six  months  of  the  declaration  of  the 
War  in  1812,  and  when  the  party  in  control  was  determined 
that  war  there  should  be,  a  proposition  to  increase  this 
navy  received  but  lukewarm  support  from  the  adminis- 
tration, and  was  voted  down  in  Congress.     The  govern- 
ment, awed  by  the  overwhelming  numbers  of  the  British 
fleet,  proposed  to  save  its  vessels  by  keeping  them  at 
home;  just  as  a  few  years  before  it  had  undertaken  to  save 
its  commerce  by  forbidding  its  merchant-ships  to  go  to  sea. 
Such  policy  with  regard  to  a  military  service  means  to  it 
not  sleep,  but  death.     The  urgent  remonstrances  of  three 
or  four  naval  captains  obtained  a  change  of  plan;  and  at 
the  end  of  the  year  the  President  admitted  that,  for  the 
very  reasons  advanced  by  them,  the  activity  of  a  small 
squadron,  skilfully  directed,  had  insured  the  safe  return 
of  much  the  most  part  of  our  exposed  merchant-shipping. 
It  is  not,  however,  such  broad  general  results  of  sagacious 
management  that  bring  conviction  to  nations  and  arouse 
them  to  action.    Professionally,  the  cruise  of  Rodgers's 
squadron,  unsuccessful  in  outward  seeming,  was  a  much 
more  significant  event,  and  much  more  productive,  than 

5 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

the  capture  of  the  Guerriere  by  the  Constitution;  but  it  was 
this  which  woke  up  the  people.  The  other  probably  would 
not  have  turned  a  vote  in  either  House.  As  a  military 
exploit  the  frigate  victory  was  exaggerated,  and  not  un- 
naturally; but  no  words  can  exaggerate  its  influence  upon 
the  future  of  the  American  navy.  Here  was  something  that 
men  could  see  and  understand,  even  though  they  might 
not  correctly  appreciate.  Coinciding  as  the  tidings  did 
with  the  mortification  of  Hull's  surrender  at  Detroit,  they 
came  at  a  moment  which  was  truly  psychological.  Bowed 
down  with  shame  at  reverse  where  only  triumph  had  been 
anticipated,  the  exultation  over  victory  where  disaster  had 
been  more  naturally  awaited  produced  a  wild  reaction.  The 
effect  was  decisive.  Inefficient  and  dilatory  as  was  much 
of  the  subsequent  administration  of  the  navy,  there  was 
never  any  further  question  of  its  continuance.  And  yet, 
from  the  ship  which  thus  played  the  most  determining  part 
in  the  history  of  her  service,  it  has  been  proposed  to  take 
her  name,  and  give  it  to  another,  of  newer  construction; 
as  though  with  the  name  could  go  also  the  association. 
Could  any  other  Victory  be  Nelson's  Victory  to  Great 
Britain?  Can  calling  a  man  George  Washington  help  to 
perpetuate  the  services  of  the  one  Washington?  The  last 
much -vaunted  addition  to  the  British  fleet,  the  Dread- 
naught,  bears  a  family  name  extending  back  over  two 
centuries,  or  more.  She  is  one  of  a  series  reasonably  per- 
petuated, ship  after  ship,  as  son  after  sire;  a  line  of  succes- 
sion honored  in  the  traditions  of  the  nation.  So  there 
were  Victorys,  before  the  one  whose  revered  hulk  still  main- 
tains a  hallowed  association;  but  her  individual  connection 
with  one  event  has  set  her  apart.  The  name  might  be 
transferred,  but  with  it  the  association  cannot  be  trans- 
mitted. But  not  even  the  Victory,  with  all  her  clingmg 
memories,  did  for  the  British  navy  what  the  Constitution 
did  for  the  American. 

6 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

There  was  thenceforward  no  longer  any  question  about 
votes  for  the  navy.  Ships  of  the  line,  frigates,  and  sloops, 
were  ordered  to  be  built,  and  the  impulse  thus  received 
never  wholly  died  out.  Still,  as  with  all  motives  which  in 
origin  are  emotional  rather  than  reasoned,  there  was  lack 
of  staying  power.  As  the  enthusiasm  of  the  moment 
languished,  there  came  languor  of  growth;  or,  more  prop- 
erly, of  development.  Continuance  became  routine  in 
character,  tending  to  reproduce  contentedly  the  old  types 
consecrated  by  the  War  of  1812.  There  was  little  conscious 
recognition  of  national  exigencies,  stimulating  a  demand 
that  the  navy,  in  types  and  numbers,  should  be  kept  abreast 
of  the  times.  In  most  pursuits  of  life  American  intelligence 
has  been  persistently  apt  and  quick  in  search  of  improve- 
ment; but,  while  such  characteristics  have  not  been  absent 
from  the  naval  service,  they  have  been  confined  chiefly, 
and  naturally,  to  the  men  engaged  in  the  profession,  and 
have  lacked  the  outside  support  which  immediate  felt 
needs  impart  to  movements  in  business  or  politics.  Few 
men  in  civil  life  could  have  given  an  immediate  reply  to  the 
question.  Why  do  we  need  a  navy  ?  Besides,  although  tl^ 
American  people  are  aggressive,  combative,  even  warlike, 
they  are  the  reverse  of  military;  out  of  sympathy  with 
military  tone  and  feeling.  Consequently,  the  appearance 
of  professional  pride,  the  msistence  upon  the  absolute 
necessity  for  professional  training,  which  in  the  physician, 
lawyer,  engineer,  or  other  civil  occupation  is  accepted  as 
not  only  becoming,  but  conducive  to  uplifting  the  pro- 
fession as  a  whole,  is  felt  in  the  military  man  to  be  the 
obtrusion  of  an  alien  temperament,  easily  stigmatized  as 
the  arrogance  of  professional  conceit  and  exclusiveness. 
The  wise  traditional  jealousy  of  any  invasion  of  the  civil 
power  by  the  military  has  no  doubt  played  some  part  in 
this;  but  a  healthy  vigilance  is  one  thing,  and  morbid  dis- 
trust another.    Morbid  distrust  and  unreasoned  preposses- 

7 


FROI\I    SAIL    TO    STEM! 

sion  were  responsible  for  the  feebleness  of  the  navy  in  1812, 
and  these  feelings  long  survived.  An  adverse  atmosphere 
was  created,  with  results  unfortunate  to  the  nation,  so  far 
as  the  navy  was  important  to  national  welfare  or  national 
progress. 

Indeed,  between  the  day  of  my  entrance  into  the  service, 
fifty  years  ago,  and  the  present,  nowhere  is  change  more 
notable  than  in  the  matter  of  atmosphere;  of  the  national 
attitude  towards  the  navy  and  comprehension  of  its  office. 
Then  it  was  accepted  without  much  question  as  part  of  the 
necessary  lumber  that  every  adequately  organized  mari- 
time state  carried,  along  with  the  rest  of  a  national  es- 
tablishment. Of  what  use  it  was,  or  might  be,  few  cared 
much  to  inquire.  There  was  not  sufficient  interest  even 
to  dispute  the  necessity  of  its  existence;  although,  it  is  true, 
as  late  as  1875  an  old-time  Jeffersonian  Democrat  repeated 
to  me  with  conviction  the  master's  dictum,  that  the  navy 
was  a  useless  appendage ;  a  statement  which  its  work  in  the 
War  of  Secession,  as  well  on  the  Confederate  as  on  the 
Union  side,  might  seem  to  have  refuted  sufficiently  and 
with  abundant  illustration.  To  such  doubters,  before  the 
war,  there  was  always  ready  the  routine  reply  that  a  navy 
protected  commerce;  and  American  shipping,  then  the 
second  in  the  world,  literally  whitened  every  sea  with  its 
snowy  cotton  sails,  a  distinctive  mark  at  that  time  of 
American  merchant  shipping.  In  my  first  long  voyage,  in 
1859,  from  Philadelphia  to  Brazil,  it  was  no  rare  occurrence 
to  be  becalmed  in  the  doldrums  in  company  with  two  or 
three  of  these  beautiful  semi-clipper  vessels,  their  low 
black  hulls  contrasting  vividly  with  the  tall  pyramids  of 
dazzling  canvas  which  rose  above  them.  They  needed  no 
protection  then,  and  none  foresaw  that  within  a  decade,  by 
the  operations  of  a  few  small  steam-cruisers,  they  would 
be  swept  from  the  seas,  never  to  return.  Everything  was 
taken  for  granted,  and  not  least  that  war  was  a  barbarism 

8 


NAVAL  CONDITIONS  BEFORE  THE  WAR 

of  the  past.  From  1815  to  1850,  the  lifetime  of  a  genera- 
tion, international  peace  had  prevailed  substantially  un- 
broken, despite  numerous  revolutionary  movements  in- 
ternal to  the  states  concerned;  and  it  had  been  lightly 
assumed  that  these  conditions  would  thenceforth  continue, 
crowned  as  they  had  been  by  the  great  sacrament  of  peace, 
when  the  nations  for  the  first  time  gathered  under  a  common 
roof  the  fruits  of  their  several  industries  in  the  World's 
Exposition  of  1851.  The  shadows  of  disunion  were  in- 
deed gathering  over  our  own  land,  but  for  the  most  of  us 
they  carried  with  them  no  fear  of  war.  American  fight 
American?  Never!  Separation  there  might  be,  and  with 
a  common  sorrow  officers  of  both  sections  thought  of  it; 
but,  brother  shed  the  blood  of  brother?  No!  By  1859 
the  Crimean  War  had  indeed  intervened  to  shake  these 
fond  convictions;  but,  after  all,  rules  have  exceptions,  and 
in  the  succeeding  peace  the  British  government,  consistent 
with  the  prepossessions  derived  from  the  propaganda  of 
Cobden,  yielded  perfectly  gratuitously  the  principle  that 
an  enemy's  commerce  might  be  freely  transported  under  a 
neutral  flag,  thereby  wrenching  away  prematurely  one  of 
the  prongs  of  Neptune's  trident.  Surely  we  were  on  the 
road  to  universal  peace. 

San  Francisco  before  and  after  its  recent  earthquake — 
at  this  moment  of  writing  ten  days  ago — scarcely  pre- 
sented a  greater  contrast  of  experience  than  that  my  day 
has  known;  and  the  political  condition  and  balance  of  the 
world  now  is  as  different  from  that  of  the  period  of  which 
I  have  been  writing  as  the  new  city  will  be  from  the  old 
one  it  will  replace  at  the  Golden  Gate.  Of  this  universal 
change  and  displacement  the  most  significant  factor — at 
least  in  our  Western  civilization — has  been  the  establish- 
ment of  the  German  Empire,  with  its  ensuing  commercial, 
maritime,  and  naval  development.  To  it  certainly  we 
owe  the  military  impulse  which   has    been    transmitted 

9 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

everywhere  to  the  forces  of  sea  and  land — an  impulse  for 
which,  in  my  judgment,  too  great  gratitude  cannot  be 
felt.  It  has  braced  and  organized  Western  civilization 
for  an  ordeal  as  yet  dimly  perceived.  But  between  1850 
and  1860  long  desuetude  of  war,  and  confident  reliance 
upon  the  commercial  progress  which  freedom  of  trade  had 
brought  in  its  train,  especially  to  Great  Britain,  had  in- 
duced the  prevalent  feeling  that  to-morrow  would  be  as 
to-day,  and  much  more  abmidant.  This  was  too  conso- 
nant to  national  temperament  not  to  pervade  America 
also;  and  it  was  promoted  by  a  distance  from  Europe 
and  her  complications  much  greater  than  now  exists,  and 
by  the  consistent  determination  not  to  be  implicated  in 
her  concerns.  All  these  factors  went  to  constitute  the 
atmosphere  of  indifference  to  military  affairs  in  general; 
and  particularly  to  those  external  interests  of  which  a 
navy  is  the  outward  and  visible  sign  and  champion. 

I  do  not  think  there  is  error  or  exaggeration  in  this 
picture  of  the  "environment"  of  the  navy  in  popular  ap- 
preciation at  the  time  I  entered.  Under  such  conditions, 
which  had  obtained  substantially  since  soon  after  the 
War  of  1812,  and  which  long  disastrously  affected  even 
Great  Britain,  with  all  her  proud  naval  traditions  and 
maritime  and  colonial  interests,  a  military  service  cannot 
thrive.  Indifference  and  neglect  tell  on  most  individuals, 
and  on  all  professions.  The  saving  clauses  were  the  high 
sense  of  duty  and  of  professional  integrity,  which  from  first 
to  last  I  have  never  known  wanting  in  the  service ;  while  the 
beauty  of  the  ships  themselves,  quick  as  a  docile  and  in- 
telligent animal  to  respond  to  the  master's  call,  inspired 
affection  and  intensified  professional  enthusiasm.  The 
exercises  of  sails  and  spars,  under  the  varying  exigencies 
of  service,  bewildering  as  they  may  have  seemed  to  the 
uninitiated,  to  the  appreciative  possessed  fascination,  and 
were  their  own  sufficient  reward  for  the  care  lavished  upon 

10 


NAVAL  CONDITIONS  BEFORE  THE  WAR 

them.  In  their  mute  yet  exact  response  was  some  com- 
pensation for  external  neglect;  they  were,  so  to  say,  the 
testimony  of  a  good  conscience;  the  assurance  of  profes- 
sional merit,  and  of  work  well  done,  if  scantily  recognized. 
Poor  and  beloved  sails  and  spars — la  joie  de  la  manoeuvre, 
to  use  the  sympathetic  phrase  of  a  French  officer  of  that 
day — ^gone  ye  are  with  that  past  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking,  and  of  which  ye  were  a  goodly  symbol;  but  like 
other  symptoms  of  the  times,  had  we  listened  aright,  we 
should  have  heard  the  stern  rebuke:  Up  and  depart 
hence;   this  is  not  the  place  of  your  rest. 

The  result  of  all  this  had  been  a  body  of  officers,  and  of 
men-of-war  seamen,  strong  in  professional  sentiment,  and 
admirably  qualified  in  the  main  for  the  duties  of  a  calling 
which  in  many  of  its  leading  characteristics  was  rapidly 
becoming  obsolete.  There  was  the  spirit  of  youth,  but  the 
body  of  age.  As  a  class,  officers  and  men  were  well  up  in 
the  use  of  such  instruments  as  the  country  gave  them;  but 
the  profession  did  not  wield  the  corporate  influence  neces- 
sary to  extort  better  instruments,  and  impotence  to  remedy 
produced  acquiescence  in,  perhaps,  more  properly,  submis- 
sion to,  an  arrest  of  progress,  the  evils  of  which  were  clearly 
seen.  Yet  the  salt  was  still  there,  nor  had  it  lost  its  savor. 
The  military  professions  are  discouraged,  even  enjoined, 
against  that  combined  independent  action  for  the  remedy 
of  grievances  which  is  the  safeguard  of  civil  liberty,  but 
tends  to  sap  the  unquestioning  obedience  essential  to  unity 
of  action  mider  a  single  will — at  once  the  virtue  and  the 
menace  of  a  standing  army.  Naval  officers  had  neither 
the  privilege  nor  the  habits  which  would  promote  united 
effort  for  betterment;  but  when  individuals  among  them 
are  found,  like  Farragut,  Dupont,  Porter,  Dahlgren — to 
mention  only  a  few  names  that  became  conspicuous  in 
the  War  of  Secession — there  will  be  found  also  in  civil  and 
political  life  men  who  will  become  the  channels  through 

11 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

wliich  the  needs  of  the  service  will  receive  expression  and 
ultimately  obtain  relief.  The  process  is  overslow  for  per- 
fect adequacy,  but  it  exists.  It  may  be  asked,  Was  not 
the  Navy  Department  constituted  for  this  special  purpose? 
Possibly;  but  experience  has  shown  that  sometimes  it  is 
efTective,  and  sometimes  it  is  not.  There  is  in  it  no  pro- 
vision for  a  contmuous  policy.  No  administrative  period 
of  our  naval  history  since  1812  has  been  more  disastrously 
stagnant  and  inefficient  than  that  which  followed  closely 
the  War  of  Secession,  with  its  extraordinary,  and  in  the 
main  well-directed,  administrative  energy.  The  deeds  of 
Farragut,  his  compeers,  and  their  followers,  after  exciting  a 
moment's  enthusiasm,  were  powerless  to  sustain  popular 
interest.    Reaction  ruled,  as  after  the  War  of  1812. 

To  whomsoever  due,  in  the  decade  immediately  preced- 
ing the  War  of  Secession  there  were  two  notable  attempts 
at  regeneration  which  had  a  profound  influence  upon  the 
fortunes  of  that  contest.  Of  these,  one  affected  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  navy,  the  other  the  material.  It  had  for 
some  time  been  recognized  within  the  service  that,  owing 
partly  to  easy-going  toleration  of  offenders,  partly  to  the 
absence  of  authorized  methods  for  dealing  with  the  dis- 
abled, or  the  merely  incompetent,  partly  also,  doubtless,  to 
the  effect  of  general  professional  stagnation  upon  those 
naturally  inclined  to  worthlessness,  there  had  accumulated 
a  very  considerable  percentage  of  officers  who  were  useless; 
or,  worse,  unreliable.  In  measure,  this  was  also  due  to 
habits  of  drinking,  much  more  common  in  all  classes  of 
men  then  than  now.  Even  within  the  ten  years  with 
which  I  am  dealing,  an  officer  not  much  my  senior  re- 
marked to  me  on  the  great  improvement  in  this  respect  in 
his  own  experience;  and  my  contemporaries  will  bear  me 
out  in  saying  that  since  then  the  advance  has  been  so  sus- 
tained that  the  evil  now  is  practically  non-existent.  But 
then  the  compassionate  expression,  "A  first-rate  officer 

12 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

when  he  is  not  drinking,"  was  ominously  frequent;  and  in 
the  generation  before  too  little  attention  had  been  paid  to 
the  equally  significant  remark,  that  with  a  fool  you  know 
what  to  count  on,  but  with  one  who  drank  you  never 
knew. 

But  drink  was  far  from  the  only  cause.  There  were 
regular  examinations,  after  six  years  of  service,  for  promo- 
tion from  the  warrant  of  midshipman  to  a  lieutenant's  com- 
mission; but,  that  successfully  passed,  there  was  no  further 
re\dew  of  an  officer's  qualifications,  unless  misconduct 
brought  him  before  a  court-martial.  Nor  was  there  any 
provision  for  removing  the  physically  incompetent.  Before 
I  entered  the  navy  I  knew  one  such,  who  had  been  bed- 
ridden for  nearly  ten  years.  He  had  been  a  midshipman 
with  Farragut  under  Porter  in  the  old  Essex,  when  captured 
by  the  Phcebe  and  Cherub.  A  gallant  boy,  specially  named 
in  the  despatch,  he  had  such  aptitude  that  at  sixteen,  as 
he  told  me  himself,  he  wore  an  epaulette  on  the  left  shoulder 
— the  uniform  of  a  lieutenant  at  that  time;  and  a  con- 
temporary assured  me  that  in  handling  a  ship  he  was  the 
smartest  officer  of  the  deck  he  had  ever  known.  But  in 
early  middle  life  disease  overtook  him,  and,  though  flat 
on  his  back,  he  had  been  borne  on  the  active  list  because 
there  was  nothing  else  to  do  with  him.  In  that  plight  he 
was  even  promoted.  There  was  another  who,  as  a  mid- 
shipman, had  lost  a  foot  in  the  War  of  1812,  but  had  been 
carried  on  from  grade  to  grade  for  forty  years,  until  at  the 
time  I  speak  of  he  was  a  captain,  then  the  highest  rank  in 
the  navy.  Possibly,  probably,  he  never  saw  water  bluer 
than  that  of  the  lakes,  where  he  was  wounded.  The  un- 
deserving were  not  treated  with  quite  the  same  indulgence. 
Those  familiar  with  the  Navy  Register  of  those  days  will 
recall  some  half-dozen  old  die-hards,  who  figured  from 
year  to  year  at  the  head  of  the  lieutenant's  list;  continuous- 
ly "overslaughed,"  never  promoted,  but  never  dismissed- 

13 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

To  deal  in  the  same  manner  with  such  men  as  the  two 
veterans  first  mentioned  would  have  been  insulting;  the 
distinction  of  promotion  had  to  be  conceded. 

But  there  were  those  also  who,  despite  habits  or  ineffi- 
ciency, slipped  through  even  formal  examination;  com- 
manders whose  ships  were  run  by  their  subordinates, 
lieutenants  whose  watch  on  deck  kept  their  captains  from 
sleeping,  midshipmen  whose  unfitness  made  their  retention 
unpardonable ;  for  at  their  age  to  re-begin  life  was  no  hard- 
ship, much  less  injustice.  Of  one  such  the  story  ran  that 
his  captain,  giving  him  the  letter  required  by  regulation, 
wrote,  "  Mr.  So  and  So  is  a  very  excellent  young  gentleman, 
of  perfectly  correct  habits,  but  nothing  will  make  an 
officer  of  him."  He  answered  his  questions,  however; 
and  the  board  considered  that  they  could  not  go  beyond 
that  fact.  They  passed  him  in  the  face  of  the  opinion  of  a 
superior  of  tried  efficiency  who  had  had  his  professional 
conduct  under  prolonged  observation.  I  never  knew  this 
particular  man  professionally,  but  the  general  estimate  of 
the  service  confirmed  his  captain's  opinion.  Twenty  or 
thirty  years  later,  I  was  myself  one  of  a  board  called  to 
deal  with  a  precisely  similar  case.  The  letter  of  the  captain 
was  explicitly  condemnatory  and  strong;  but  the  president 
of  the  board,  a  man  of  exemplary  rectitude,  was  vehement 
even  in  refusing  to  act  upon  it,  and  his  opinion  prevailed. 
Some  years  afterwards  the  individual  came  under  my  com- 
mand, and  proved  to  be  of  so  eccentric  worthlessness  that  I 
thought  him  on  the  border-line  of  insanity.  He  afterwards 
disappeared,  I  do  not  know  how. 

Talking  of  examinations,  a  comical  incident  came  under 
my  notice  immediately  after  the  War  of  Secession,  when  there 
were  still  employed  a  large  number  of  those  volunteer  offi- 
cers who  had  honorably  and  usefully  filled  up  the  depleted 
ranks  of  the  regular  service — an  accession  of  strength  im- 
peratively needed.    There  were  among  them,  naturally, 

14 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

inefficients  as  well  as  efficients.  One  had  applied  for 
promotion,  and  a  board  of  three,  among  them  myself,  was 
assembled  to  examine.  Several  commonplace  questions 
in  seamanship  were  put  to  him,  of  which  I  now  remember 
only  that  he  had  no  conception  of  the  difference  between  a 
ship  moored,  and  one  lying  at  single  anchor — a  subject  as 
pertinent  to-day  as  a  hundred  years  ago.  After  failing  to 
explain  this,  he  expressed  his  wish  not  to  go  further;  where- 
upon one  of  the  board  asked  why,  if  ignorant  of  these 
simple  matters,  he  had  applied  for  examination.  His 
answer  was,  "  I  did  not  apply  for  examination,  I  applied  for 
promotion."  Even  in  this  case,  when  the  applicant  had 
left  the  room,  the  president  of  the  board,  then  a  some- 
what notorious  survival  of  the  unfittest,  long  since  de- 
parted this  life,  asked  whether  we  refused  to  pass  him. 
The  third  member,  himself  a  volunteer  officer,  and  my- 
self, said  we  did.  "Well,"  he  rejoined,  "you  know  this 
man  may  get  a  chance  at  you  some  day."  This  prudent 
consideration,  however,  did  not  save  him. 

Such  tolerance  towards  the  unfit,  the  reluctance  to 
strike  the  individual  in  the  interests  of  the  community, 
was  but  a  special,  and  not  very  flagrant,  instance  of  the 
sympathy  evoked  for  much  worse  offenjiers — murderers, 
and  defrauders — in  civil  life.  In  such  cases,  the  average 
man,  except  when  personally  affected,  sides  unreasonably 
with  the  sufferer  and  against  the  public;  witness  the  easily 
signed  petitions  for  pardon  which  flow  in.  It  can  be  under- 
stood that  in  a  public  employment,  civil  or  military,  there 
will  usually  be  reluctance  to  punish,  and  especially  to  take 
the  bread  out  of  the  mouths  of  a  man  and  his  family  by 
ejection.  Usually  only  immediate  personal  interest  in 
efficiency  can  supply  the  needed  hardness  of  heart.  Speak- 
ing after  a  very  extensive  and  varied  inside  experience  of 
courts-martial,  I  can  say  most  positively  that  their  ten- 
dency is  not  towards  the  excessive  severity  which  I  have 

15 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

heard  charged  against  them  by  an  eminent  lawyer.  On 
the  contrary,  the  difficulty  is  to  keep  the  members  up  to 
the  mark  against  their  natural  and  professional  s3Tnpathies. 
Their  superiors  in  the  civil  government  have  more  often  to 
rebuke  undue  leniency.  How  much  more  hard  when,  instead 
of  an  evil-doer,  one  had  only  to  deal  with  a  good-tempered, 
kindly  ignoramus,  or  one  perhaps  who  drew  near  the  border- 
line of  slipshod  adequacy ;  and  especially  when  to  do  so  was 
to  initiate  action,  apparently  invidious,  and  probably  use- 
less, as  in  cases  I  have  cited.  It  was  easier  for  a  captain  or 
first  lieutenant  to  nurse  such  a  one  along  through  a  cruise, 
and  then  dismiss  him  to  his  home,  thanking  God,  like 
Dogberry,  that  you  are  rid  of  a  fool,  and  trusting  you  may 
see  him  no  more.  But  this  confidence  may  be  misplaced; 
even  his  ghost  may  return  to  plague  you,  or  your  conscience. 
Basil  Hall  tells  an  interesting  story  in  point.  When  him- 
self about  to  pass  for  lieutenant,  in  1808,  while  in  an  ante- 
room awaiting  his  summons,  a  candidate  |came  out  flushed 
and  perturbed.  Hall  was  called  in,  and  one  of  the  examin- 
ing captains  said  to  him,  "  Mr. ,  who  has  just  gone  out, 

could  not  answer  a  question  which  we  will  put  to  you." 
He  naturally  looked  for  a  stunner,  and  was  surprised  at  the 
extremely  commonplace  problem  proposed  to  him.  From 
the  general  incident  he  presumed  his  predecessor  had  been 
rejected,  but  when  the  list  was  published  saw  his  name 
among  the  passed.  Some  years  later  he  met  one  of  the 
examiners,  who  in  the  conversation  recalled  to  him  the 
circumstances.  "We  hesitated,"  he  said,  "whether  to  let 
him  go  through :  but  we  did,  and  I  voted  for  him.  A  few 
weeks  later  I  saw  him  gazetted  second  lieutenant  of  a  sloop- 
of-war,  and  a  twinge  of  compunction  seized  me.  Not 
long  afterwards  I  read  also  the  loss  of  that  ship,  with  all 
on  board.  I  never  have  known  how  it  happened,  but  I 
cannot  rid  myself  of  an  uneasy  feeling  that  it  may  have 
been  in  that  young  man's  watch."    He  added,  "Mr.  Hall, 

16 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

if  ever  you  are  employed  as  I  then  was,  do  not  take  your 
duties  as  lightly  as  I  did." 

Sometimes  retribution  does  not  assume  this  ghastly 
form,  but  shows  the  humorous  side  of  her  countenance; 
for  she  has  two  faces,  like  the  famous  ship  that  was  painted 
a  different  color  on  either  side  and  always  tacked  at  night, 
that  the  enemy  might  imagine  two  ships  off  their  coast. 
I  recall — many  of  us  recall — a  well-known  character  in  the 
service,  "Bobby,"  who  was  a  synonyme  for  inefficiency. 
He  is  long  since  in  his  grave,  where  reminiscence  cannot 
disturb  him;  and  the  Bobby  can  reveal  him  only  to  those 
who  knew  him  as  well  and  better  than  I,  and  not  to  an 
unsympathetic  public.  Well,  Bobby  after  much  indulgence 
had  been  retired  from  active  service  by  that  convulsive 
effort  at  re-establishment  known  as  the  Retiring  Board  of 
1854-55,  to  which  I  am  coming  if  ever  I  see  daylight 
through  this  thicket  of  recollections  that  seems  to  close 
round  me  as  I  proceed,  instead  of  getting  clearer.  The 
action  of  that  board  was  afterwards  extensively  reviewed, 
and  among  the  data  brought  before  the  reviewers  was  a 
letter  from  a  commander,  who  presumably  should  have 
known  better,  warmly  endorsing  Bobby.  In  consequence 
of  this,  and  perhaps  other  circumstances,  Bobby  was  re- 
stored to  an  admiring  service;  but  the  Department,  prob- 
ably through  some  officer  who  appreciated  the  situation, 
sent  him  to  his  advocate  as  first  lieutenant — that  is,  as 
general  manager  and  right-hand  man.  The  joke  was 
somewhat  grim,  and  grimly  resented.  It  fell  to  me  a 
little  later  to  see  the  commander  on  a  matter  of  duty. 
He  received  me  in  his  cabin,  his  feet  swathed  on  a  chair, 
his  hands  gnarled  and  knotted  with  gout  or  rheumatism, 
from  which  he  was  a  great  sufferer.  Business  despatched, 
we  drifted  into  talk,  and  got  on  the  subject  of  Bobby. 
His  face  became  distorted.  "I  suppose  the  Department 
thinks  it  has  done  a  very  funny  thing  in  sending  me  him 

17 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

as  first  lieutenant ;  but  I  tell  you,  Mr.  Mahan,  every  word 
I  wrote  was  perfectly  true.  There  is  nothing  about  a  ship 
from  her  hold  to  her  trucks  that  Bobby  don't  know;  but — " 
here  fury  took  possession  of  him,  and  he  vociferated — "  put 

him  on  deck,  handling  men,  he  is  the  d dest  fool  that 

ever  man  laid  eyes  on."  How  far  his  sense  of  injury 
biassed  his  judgments  as  to  the  acquirements  of  his  pro- 
tege, I  cannot  say;  but  a  cruise  or  two  before  I  had  hap- 
pened to  hear  from  eye-witnesses  of  Bobby's  appearance 
in  public  after  his  restoration  as  first  lieutenant  in  charge 
of  the  deck.  On  the  occasion  in  question  he  was  to  exercise 
the  whole  crew  at  some  particular  manoeuvre.  Taking  his 
stand  on  the  hawse-block,  he.  drew  from  his  pocket  a  small 
note-book,  cast  upon  it  his  eye  and  announced — doubt- 
less through  the  trumpet — ''Man  the  fore-royal  braces!" 
A  pause,  and  further  reference.  ''Man  the  main-royal 
braces!"  Again  a  pause:  "Man  the  mizzen-royal  braces 
— ^Man  all  the  royal  braces."  It  is  quite  true,  however, 
that  there  may  be  plenty  of  knowledge  with  lack  of  power 
to  apply  it  professionally — a  fact  observable  in  all  callings, 
but  one  which  examination  alone  will  not  elicit.  I  knew 
such  a  one  who  said  of  himself,  "  Before  I  take  the  trmnpet 
I  know  what  ought  to  be  said  and  done,  but  with  the 
trumpet  in  my  hand  everything  goes  away  from  me." 
This  was  doubtless  partly  stage-fright;  but  stage-fright  does 
not  last  where  there  is  real  aptitude.  This  man,  of  very 
marked  general  ability,  esteemed  and  liked  by  all,  finally 
left  the  navy;  and  probably  wisely.  On  the  other  hand, 
I  remember  a  very  excellent  seaman — and  officer — telling 
me  that  the  poorest  officer  he  had  ever  known  tacked 
ship  the  best.     So  men  differ. 

Thus  it  happened,  through  the  operation  of  a  variety  of 
causes,  that  by  the  early  fifties  there  had  accumulated  on 
the  lists  of  the  navy,  in  every  grade,  a  number  of  men  who 
had  been  tried  in  the  balance  of  professional  judgment  and 

18 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

found  distinctly  wanting.  Not  only  was  the  public — the 
nation — being  wronged  by  the  continuance  in  positions  of 
responsibility  of  men  who  could  not  meet  an  emergency, 
or  even  discharge  common  duties,  but  there  was  the  further 
harm  that  they  were  occupying  places  which,  if  vacated, 
could  be  at  once  filled  by  capable  men  waiting  behind 
them.  Fortunately,  this  had  come  to  constitute  a  body  of 
individual  grievance  among  the  deserving,  which  coun- 
terbalanced the  natural  sympathy  with  the  individual 
incompetent.  The  remedy  adopted  was  drastic  enough,  al- 
though in  fact  only  an  application  of  the  principle  of  selec- 
tion in  a  very  guarded  form.  Unhappily,  previous  neglect 
to  apply  selection  through  a  i^ong  series  of  years  had  now 
occasioned  conditions  in  which  it  had  to  be  used  on  a  huge 
scale,  and  in  the  most  invidious  manner — the  selecting  out 
of  the  mifit.  It  was  therefore  easy  for  cavillers  to  liken 
this  process  to  a  trial  at  law,  in  which  unfavorable  decision 
was  a  condemnation  without  the  accused  being  heard; 
and,  of  course,  once  having  received  this  coloring,  the  im- 
pression could  not  be  removed,  nor  the  method  reconciled 
to  a  public  having  Anglo-Saxon  traditions  concerning  the 
administration  of  justice.  A  board  of  fifteen  was  con- 
stituted— five  captains,  five  commanders,  and  five  lieu- 
tenants. These  were  then  the  only  grades  of  commissioned 
officers,  and  representation  from  them  all  insured,  as  far 
as  could  be,  an  adequate  acquaintance  with  the  entire 
personnel  of  the  navy.  The  board  sat  in  secret,  reaching 
its  own  conclusions  by  its  own  methods ;  deciding  who  were, 
and  who  were  not,  fit  to  be  carried  longer  on  the  active  list. 
Rejections  were  of  three  kinds ;  those  wholly  removed,  and 
those  retired  on  two  different  grades  of  pay,  called  "Re- 
tired," and  "Furloughed."  The  report  was  accepted  by 
the  government  and  became  operative. 

This  occurred  a  year  or  two  before  I  entered  the  Naval 
School ;  and,  as  I  was  already  expecting  to  do  so,  I  read  with 

19 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

an  interest  I  well  recall  the  lists  of  person  unfavorably 
affected.  Of  course,  neither  then  nor  afterwards  had  I 
knowledge  to  form  an  independent  opinion  upon  the 
merits  of  the  cases;  but  as  far  as  I  could  gather  in  the  im- 
mediately succeeding  years,  from  different  officers,  the 
general  verdict  was  that  in  very  few  instances  had  injustice 
been  done.  Where  I  had  the  opportunity  of  verifying  the 
mistakes  cited  to  me,  I  found  instead  reason  rather  to 
corroborate  than  to  impugn  the  action  of  the  board;  but, 
of  course,  in  so  large  a  review  as  it  had  to  undertake,  even 
a  jury  of  fifteen  experts  can  scarcely  be  expected  never  to 
err.  In  the  navy  it  was  a  first,  and  doubtless  somewhat 
crude,  attempt  to  apply  th^  method  of  selection  which 
every  business  man  or  corporation  uses  in  choosing  em- 
ployes; an  arbitrary  conclusion,  based  upon  personal 
knowledge  and  observation,  or  upon  adequate  information. 
But  in  private  affairs  such  decisions  are  not  regarded  as 
legal  judgment,  nor  rejection  as  condemnation;  and  there 
is  no  appeal.  The  private  interest  of  the  employer  is  war- 
rant that  he  will  do  the  best  he  can  for  his  business.  This 
presumption  does  not  lie  in  the  case  of  public  affairs,  al- 
though after  the  most  searching  criticism  the  action  of  the 
board  of  fifteen  might  probably  be  quoted  to  prove  that 
selection  for  promotion  could  safely  be  trusted  at  all  times 
to  similar  means.  I  mean,  that  such  a  body  would  never 
recommend  an  unfit  man  for  promotion,  and  in  three  cases 
out  of  five  would  choose  ve»y  near  the  best  man.  But 
no  such  system  can  work  unless  a  government  have  the 
coui'lge  of  its  findings;  for  private  and  public  opinion  will 
inevitably  constitute  itself  a  court  of  appeal.  In  Great 
Britain,  where  the  principle  of  selection  has  never  been 
abandoned,  in  the  application  the  Admiralty  is  none  the 
less  constrained — browbeaten,  I  fancy,  would  hardly  be 
too  strong  a  word — by  opinion  outside.  P.  has  been  pro- 
moted, say  the  service  journals;  but  whv  was  A.  passed  over, 

20 


NAVAL  CONDITIONS  BEFORE  THE  WAR 

or  F.,  or  K.?  Choice  is  difficult,  indeed,  in  peace  times; 
but  years  sap  efficiency,  and  for  the  good  of  the  nation 
it  is  imperative  to  get  men  along  while  in  the  vigor  of  life, 
which  will  never  be  effected  by  the  slow  routine  in  which 
each  second  stands  heir  to  the  first.  P.  possibly  may  not 
be  better  than  A.  or  K.,  but  the  nation  will  profit  more, 
and  in  a  matter  vital  to  it,  than  if  P.,  whose  equality  may 
be  conceded,  has  to  wait  for  the  whole  alphabet  to  die  out 
of  his  way.  The  injustice,  if  so  it  be,  to  the  individual 
must  not  be  allowed  to  impede  the  essential  prosperity  of 
the  community. 

In  1854-55,  the  results  of  a  contrary  ystem  had  reached 
proportions  at  once  disheartening  and  comical.  It  then 
required  fourteen  years  after  entrance  to  reach  a  lieuten- 
ant's commission,  the  lowest  of  all.  That  is,  coming  in  as 
a -midshipman  at  fifteen,  not  till  twenty-nine,  after  ten  to 
twelve  years  probably  on  a  sea-going  vessel,  was  a  man 
found  fit,  by  official  position,  to  take  charge  of  a  ship  at 
sea,  or  to  command  a  division  of  guns.  True,  the  famous 
Billy  Culmer,  of  the  British  navy,  under  a  system  of 
selection  found  himself  a  midshipman  still  at  fifty-six,  and 
then  declined  a  commission  on  the  ground  that  he  preferred 
to  continue  senior  midshipman  rather  than  be  the  junior 
lieutenant;^  but  the  injustice,  if  so  it  were,  to  Billy,  and  to 
many  others,  had  put  the  ships  into  the  hands  of  captains 

'  This  statement  when  written  rested  on  my  childhood's  memory 
only.  A  few  months  later  there  came  into  my  hands  a  volume  of  the 
publications  of  the  British  Navy  Records  Society,  containing  the 
Recollections  of  Commander  James  Anthony  Gardner,  1775-1814. 
Gardner  was  at  one  time  shipmates  with  Culmer,  who  it  appears  even- 
tually received  a  commission.  By  Gardner's  reckoning  he  would  have 
been  far  along  in  the  forties  in  1790.  The  following  is  the  description 
of  him.  "Billy  was  about  five  feet  eight  or  nine,  and  stooped;  hard 
features,  marked  with  the  small-pox;  blind  in  an  eye,  and  a  wen  nearly 
the  size  of  an  egg  under  his  cheek-bone.  His  dress  on  a  Sunday  was  a 
mate's  uniform  coat,  with  brown  velvet  waistcoat  and  breeches;  boots 
with  black  tops;  a  gold-laced  hat,  and  a  large  hanger  by  his  side  like 

21 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEA1\I 

ill  the  prime  of  life.  Of  the  historic  admirals  of  that  navy, 
few  had  failed  to  reach  a  captaincy  in  their  twenties.  Per 
contra,  I  was  told  the  following  anecdote  by  an  officer  of 
our  service  whose  name  was — and  is,  for  he  still  lives — a 
synonyme  for  personal  activity  and  professional  seaman- 
ship, but  who  waited  his  fourteen  years  for  a  lieutenancy. 
On  one  occasion  the  ship  in  which  he  returned  to  Norfolk 
from  a  three-years'  cruise  was  ordered  from  there  to  Ports- 
mouth, New  Hampshire,  to  go  out  of  commission.  For  some 
cause  almost  all  the  lieutenants  had  been  detached,  the 
cruise  being  thought  ended.  It  became  necessary,  there- 
fore, to  intrust  the  charge  of  the  deck  to  him  and  other 
"passed"  midshipmen,  and  great  was  the  shaking  of  heads 
among  old  stagers  over  the  danger  that  ship  was  to  run. 
If  this  were  exceptional,  it  would  not  be  worth  quoting,  but 
it  was  not.  A  similar  routine  in  the  British  navy,  in  a  dry- 
rot  period  of  a  hundred  years  before,  had  induced  a  like 
head-wagging  and  exchange  of  views  when  one  of  its  great- 
est admirals,  Hawke,  was  first  given  charge  of  a  squadron; 
being  then  already  a  man  of  mark,  and  four  years  older 
than  Nelson  at  the  Nile.  But  he  was  younger  than  the 
rule,  and  so  distrusted. 

The  vacancies  made  by  the  wholesale  action  of  1854 
remedied  this  for  a  while.  The  lieutenants  who  owed  their 
rank  to  it  became  such  after  seven  or  eight  years,  or  at 
twenty-three  or  four;  and  this  meant  really  passing  out  of 
pupilage  into  manhood.  The«change  being  effected  im- 
mediately, anticipated  the  reaction  in  public  opinion  and 
in  Congress,  which  rejected  the  findings  of  the  board  and 
compelled  a  review  of  the  whole  procedure.  Many  res- 
torations were  made;  and,  as  these  swelled  the  lists  beyond 
the  number  then  authorized  by  law,  there  was  established 

the  sword  of  John-a-Gaunt.  He  was  proud  of  being  the  oldest  mid- 
shipman in  the  navy,  and  looked  upon  young  captains  and  lieutenants 
Avith  contempt." 

22 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

a  reduced  pay  for  those  whose  recent  promotion  made  them 
in  excess.  For  them  was  adopted,  in  naval  colloqiiiaHsm, 
the  inelegant  but  suggestive  term  "jackass"  lieutenants. 
It  should  be  explained  to  the  outsider,  perhaps  even  many 
professional  readers  now  may  not  know,  that  the  word  was 
formerly  used  for  a  class  of  so-called  frigates  which  inter- 
vened between  the  frigate-class  proper  and  the  sloop-of- 
war  proper,  and  like  all  hybrids,  such  as  the  armored 
cruiser,  shared  more  in  the  defects  than  in  the  virtues  of 
either.  It  was  therefore  not  a  new  coinage,  and  its  un- 
complimentary suggestion  applied  rather  to  the  grudging 
legislation  than  to  the  unlucky  victims.  Of  course,  pro- 
motion was  stopped  till  this  block  was  worked  off;  but  the 
immediate  gain  was  retained.  Before  the  trouble  came 
on  afresh  the  War  of  Secession,  causing  a  large  number 
of  Southerners  to  leave  the  service,  introduced  a  very  dif- 
ferent problem ; — namely,  how  to  find  officers  enough  to  meet 
the  expansion  of  the  navy  caused  by  the  vast  demands  of 
the  contest.  The  men  of  my  time  became  lieutenants  be- 
tween twenty  and  twenty-three.  My  own  commission 
was  dated  a  month  before  my  twenty-first  birthday,  and 
with  what  good  further  prospects,  even  under  the  strict 
rule  of  seniority  promotion,  is  evident,  for  before  I  was 
twenty -five  I  was  made  lieutenant -commander,  corre- 
sponding to  major  in  the  army.  Those  were  cheerful  days 
in  this  respect  for  the  men  who  struck  the  crest  of  the  wave ; 
but  already  the  symptoms-  of  inevitable  reaction  to  old 
conditions  of  stagnancy  were  observable  to  those  careful 
to  heed. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  benefit  of  this 
measure  to  the  nation,  through  the  service,  despite  the 
subsequent  reactionary  legislation.  By  a  single  act  a 
large  number  of  officers  were  advanced  from  the  most 
subordinate  and  irresponsible  positions  to  those  which 
called  all  their  faculties  into  play.     "Responsibility,"  said 

23 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

one  of  the  most  experienced  admirals  the  world  has  known, 
"is  the  test  of  a  man's  courage";  and  where  the  native 
fitness  exists  nothing  so  educates  for  responsibility  as  the 
having  it.  The  responsibility  of  the  lieutenant  of  the 
watch  differs  little  from  that  of  the  captain  in  degree,  and 
less  in  kind.  To  early  bearing  of  responsibility  Farragut 
attributed  in  great  part  his  fearlessness  in  it,  which  was 
well  known  to  the  service  before  his  hour  of  strain.  It 
was  much  that  the  government  found  ready  for  the  ex- 
treme demands  of  the  war  a  number  of  officers,  who,  in- 
stead of  supervising  the  washing  of  lower  decks  and  stowing 
of  holds  during  their  best  years,  had  been  put  betimes  in 
charge  of  the  ship.  From  there  to  the  captain's  berth  was 
but  a  small  step.  "Passed  midshipman,"  says  one  of 
Cooper's  characters,  "is  a  good  grade  to  reach,  but  a  bad 
one  to  stop  in."  From  a  fate  little  better  than  this  a  large 
and  promising  number  of  young  officers  were  thus  rescued 
for  the  commands  and  responsibilities  of  the  War  of 
Secession. 


II 

NAVAL  CONDITIONS  BEFORE  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION 
THE   VESSELS 

Less  far-reaching,  because  men  are  greater  than  ships, 
but  still  of  immense  timeliness  as  a  preparative  to  the  war, 
was  the  reconstitution  of  the  material  of  the  navy,  prac- 
tically coincident  with  the  regeneration  of  the  personnel. 
The  causes  which  led  to  this  are  before  my  time,  and  be- 
yond my  contemporary  knowledge.  They  therefore  form 
no  part  of  my  theme;  but  the  result,  which  is  more  im- 
portant than  the  process,  was  strictly  contemporary  with 
me.  It  marked  a  definite  parting  with  sails  as  the  motive 
reliance  of  a  ship-of-war,  but  at  the  same  time  was  charac- 
terized by  an  extreme  conservatism,  which  then  was 
probably  judicious,  and  certainly  represented  the  naval 
opinion  of  the  day.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
Atlantic  was  first  crossed  under  steam  in  1837,  a  feat  shortly 
before  thought  impossible  on  account  of  coal  consumption, 
and  that  the  screw-propeller  was  not  generally  adopted  till 
several  years  afterwards.  In  1855  the  transatlantic  liners 
were  still  paddlers;  but  the  paddle-wheel  shaft  was  far 
above  the  water,  and  so,  in  necessary  consequence,  was 
much  of  the  machinery  which  transmitted  power  from  the 
boilers  to  the  wheel.  All  battle  experience  avouched  the 
probability  of  disabling  injury  under  such  exposure;  not 
more  certain,  but  probably  more  fatal,  than  that  to  spars 
and  sails  of  sailing-ships.     Despite  this  drawback,  paddle 

25 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

wheel  men-of-war  were  being  built  between  1840  and  1850. 

Our  own  navy  had  of  these  two  large  and  powerful  vessels, 
sisters,  the  Missouri  and  the  Mississippi.  Singularly- 
enough,  both  met  the  same  end,  by  fire;  the  Missouri  being 
burned  in  the  Bay  of  Gibraltar  in  1843,  the  Mississippi  in 
the  river  whence  she  took  her  name,  in  the  course  of  Far- 
ragut's  passage  of  the  batteries  at  Port  Hudson  in  1863. 
This  engagement  marked  the  end  of  the  admiral's  achieve- 
ments in  the  river,  throughout  which,  beginning  with  the 
passage  of  the  forts  and  the  capture  of  New  Orleans,  the 
Mississippi  had  done  good  work.  At  the  time  of  her 
destruction,  the  present  Admiral  Dewey  was  her  first 
lieutenant.  Besides  these  two  we  had  the  Susquehanna^ 
"  paddle-wheel  steam-frigate,"  which  also  served  manfully 
through  the  war,  and  was  in  commission  after  it.  It  was 
she  that  carried  General  Sherman  on  his  mission  to  Mexico 
in  1866.  As  usual,  the  principal  European  navies  had 
built  many  more  of  these  vessels;  that  is,  had  adopted  im- 
provements more  readily  than  we  did.  During  my  first 
cruise  after  graduation,  on  the  coast  of  Brazil,  1859-61, 
the  British  squadron  there  was  composed  chiefly  of  pad- 
dlers;  the  flag-ship  Leopard  being  one.  As  I  remember,  there 
was  only  one  screw-steamer,  the  sloop-of-war  Curagao. 

By  that  time,  however,  the  paddlers  were  only  survivals; 
but  it  may  be  noted,  in  passing,  with  reference  to  the  cry 
of  obsolescence  so  readily  raised  in  our  day,  that  these 
survivals  did  yeoman  service  in  the  War  of  Secession.  It 
is  possible  to  be  too  quick  in  discarding,  as  well  as  too 
slow  in  adopting.  By  1850  the  screw  had  made  good  its 
position;  and  the  difficulty  which  had  impeded  the  prog- 
ress of  steam  in  men-of-war  disappeared  when  it  became 
possible  to  place  all  machinery  below  water.  There  were, 
however,  many  improvements  still  to  come,  before  it  could 
be  frankly  and  fully  accepted  as  the  sole  motive  power. 
It  is  not  well  to  let  go  with  one  hand  till  sure  of  your  grip 

26 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

with  the  other.  So  in  the  early  days  of  electric  lighting 
prudent  steamship  companies  kept  their  oil-lamps  trimmed 
and  filled  in  the  brackets  alongside  of  the  electric  globes. 
Apart  from  the  problem  experienced  by  the  average  man — 
and  governments  are  almost  always  averages — in  adjust- 
ing his  action  to  novel  conditions,  the  science  of  steam- 
enginery  was  still  very  backward.  Notably,  the  expendi- 
ture of  coal  was  excessive;  to  produce  a  given  result  in 
miles  travelled,  or  speed  attained,  much  more  had  to  be 
burned  than  now,  a  condition  to  which  contributed  also  the 
lack  of  rigidity  in  the  wooden  hulls,  which  still  held  their 
ground.  Sails  were  very  expensive  articles,  as  I  heard  said 
by  an  accomplished  officer  of  the  olden  days;  but  they  were 
less  costly  than  coal.  Steam  therefore  was  accepted  at 
the  first  only  as  an  accessory,  for  emergencies.  It  was  too 
evident  for  question  that  in  battle  a  vessel  independent  of 
the  wind  would  have  an  unqualified  advantage  over  one 
dependent;  though  an  early  acquaintance  of  mine,  a  sail- 
maker  in  the  navy,  a  man  of  unusual  intelligence  and  tried 
courage,  used  to  maintain  that  steam  would  never  prevail. 
Small  steamers,  he  contended,  would  accompany  sailing 
fleets,  to  tow  vessels  becalmed,  or  disabled  in  battle;  a 
most  entertaining  instance  of  professional  prepossession. 
What  would  be  his  reflections,  had  he  survived  till  this 
year  of  grace,  to  see  only  six  sail-makers  on  the  active  list 
of  the  navy,  the  last  one  appointed  in  1888,  and  not  one 
of  them  afloat.  Likewise,  in  breasting  the  continuous 
head-winds  which  mark  some  ocean  districts,  or  traversing 
the  calms  of  others,  there  would  be  gain;  but  for  the  most 
part  sailing,  it  was  thought,  was  sufficiently  expeditious, 
decidedly  cheaper,  and  more  generally  reliable;  for  steamers 
"broke  down."  Admiral  Baudin,  a  French  veteran  of  the 
Napoleonic  period,  was  very  sarcastic  over  the  uncertain- 
ties of  action  of  the  steamers  accompanying  his  sailing 
frigates,  when  he  attacked  Fort  San  Juan  de  Ulloa,  off 

27 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

Vera  Cruz  in  1839;  and  since  writing  these  words  I  have 
come  across  the  following  quotation,  of  several  years  later, 
from  the  London  Guardian,  which  is  republishing  some  of 
its  older  news  under  the  title  "  'Tis  Sixty  Years  Since." 

"Naval  manoeuvres  in  1846.  The  Squadron  of  Evolution 
is  one  of  the  topics  of  the  present  week  (June  10,  1846).  Its 
arrival  in  the  Cove  of  Cork,  after  a  cruise  which  has  tested  by 
every  variety  of  weather  the  sailing  qualities  of  the  vessels, 
has  furnished  the  world  with  a  few  particulars  of  its  doings, 
and  with  some  materials  for  speculating  on  the  problems  it 
was  sent  out  to  solve.  The  result,  as  far  as  it  goes,  is  certainly 
unfavorable  to  the  exclusive  prevalence  of  steam  agency  in 
naval  warfare.  Saihng  ships,  it  is  seen,  can  do  things  which 
steamers,  as  at  present  constructed,  cannot  accomphsh. 
They  can  keep  the  sea  when  steamers  cannot.  But  the  screw- 
steamer,  which  is  reported  'to  have  astonished  everybody,' 
is  certainly  an  exception.  Perhaps  by  this  contrivance  the 
rapidity  and  convenience  of  steam  locomotion  may  be  com- 
bined with  the  power  and  stability  of  our  huge  saihng  bat- 
teries." 

Under  convictions  thus  slowly  recasting,  the  first  big 
steam  ships-of-war  carried  merely  "auxiUary"  engines; 
were  in  fact  sailing  vessels,  of  the  types  in  use  for  over  a 
century,  into  which  machinery  was  introduced  to  meet 
occasional  emergencies.  In  some  cases,  probably  in  many, 
ships  already  built  as  sailers  were  lengthened  and  engined. 
As  late  as  1868  we  were  station-mates  with  one  such,  the 
Rodney,  of  90  guns,  then  the  flag-ship  of  the  British  China 
squadron;  and  we  had  already  met  another,  the  Princess 
Royal,  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  homeward  bound.  She, 
however,  had  been  built  as  a  steamer.  She  was  a  singularly 
handsome  vessel,  of  her  majestic  type;  and,  as  she  lay  close 
by  us,  I  remember  commenting  on  her  appearance  to  one 
of  my  messmates,  poor   Stewart,  who   afterwards  went 

28 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

down  in  the  Oneida.  "Yes,"  he  replied,  "she  possesses 
several  elements  of  the  sublime."  They  were  certainly 
imposing  creations,  with  their  double  and  treble  tiers  of 
guns,  thrusting  their  black  muzzles  through  the  successive 
ports  which,  to  the  number  of  fifteen  to  twenty,  broke 
through  the  two  broad  white  bands  that  from  bow  to  stern 
traversed  the  blackness  of  their  hulls;  above  which  rose 
spars  as  tall  and  broad  as  ever  graced  the  days  of  Nelson. 
To  make  the  illusion  of  the  past  as  complete  as  possible, 
and  the  dissemblance  from  the  sailing  ship  as  slight,  the 
smoke-stack — or  funnel — was  telescopic,  permitting  it  to 
be  lowered  almost  out  of  sight.  For  those  who  can  recall 
these  predecessors  of  the  modern  battle-ships,  the  latter  can 
make  slight  claim  to  beauty  or  impressiveness;  yet,  despite 
the  ugliness  of  their  angular  broken  sky-line,  they  have  a 
gracefulness  all  their  own,  when  moving  slowly  in  still 
water.  I  remember  a  dozen  years  ago  watching  the 
French  Mediterranean  fleet  of  six  or  eight  battle -ships 
leaving  the  harbor  of  Villefranche,  near  Nice.  There  was 
some  manceuvring  to  get  their  several  stations,  during 
which,  here  and  there,  a  vessel  lying  quiet  waiting  her 
opportunity  would  glide  forward  with  a  dozen  slow  turns 
of  the  screws,  not  agitating  the  water  beyond  a  light  ripple 
at  the  bows.  The  bay  at  the  moment  was  quiet  as  a  mill- 
pond,  and  it  needed  little  imagination  to  prompt  recogni- 
tion of  the  identity  of  dignified  movement  with  that  cf  a 
swan  making  its  leisurely  way  by  means  equally  unseen ;  no 
turbulent  display  of  energy,  yet  suggestive  of  mysterious 
power. 

Before  the  War  of  Secession,  and  indeed  for  twenty  years 
after  it,  the  United  States  never  inclined  to  the  maintenance 
of  squadrons,  properly  so-called.  It  is  true,  a  dozen  fine 
ships-of-the-line  were  built  during  the  sail  period,  but  they 
never  sailed  together;  and  the  essence  of  the  battle-ship, 
in  all  eras,  is  combined  action.     Our  squadrons,  till  long 

3  29 


FROI^I    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

after  I  entered  the  navy,  were  simply  aggregations  of 
vessels,  no  two  of  which  were  necessarily  of  the  same  size 
or  class.  When  a  ship-of-the-line  went  to  sea — which 
never  happened  in  my  time — she  went  without  mates,  a 
palpable  paradox;  a  ship-of-the-line,  which  to  no  line  be- 
longed. Ours  was  a  navy  of  single,  isolated  cruisers;  and 
under  that  condition  we  had  received  a  correct  tradition 
that,  whatever  the  nominal  class  of  an  American  ship-of- 
war,  she  should  be  somewhat  stronger  than  the  corre- 
sponding vessels  built  by  other  nations.  Each  cruiser, 
therefore,  would  bring  superior  force  to  any  field  of  battle 
at  all  possible  to  her.  This  was  a  perfectly  just  military 
conception,  to  which  in  great  measure  w^e  owed  our  suc- 
cesses of  1812.  The  same  rule  does  not  apply  to  fleets, 
which  to  achieve  the  like  superiority  rely  upon  united  ac- 
tion, and  upon  tactical  facility  obtained  by  the  homo- 
geneous qualities  of  the  several  ships,  enabling  them  to 
combine  greater  numbers  upon  a  part  of  the  enemy. 
Therefore  Great  Britain,  which  so  long  ruled  the  world  by 
fleets,  attached  less  importance  to  size  in  the  particular 
vessel.  Class  for  class,  her  ships  were  weaker  than  those  of 
her  enemies,  but  in  fleet  action  they  usually  won.  At  the 
period  of  which  I  am  writing,  the  screw-propeller,  having 
fairly  established  its  position,  prompted  a  reconstruction 
of  the  navy,  with  no  change  of  the  principles  just  men- 
tioned. The  cruiser  idea  dictated  the  classes  of  vessels 
ordered,  and  the  idea  of  relative  size  prescribed  their 
dimensions.  There  were  to  be  six  steam- frigates  of  the 
largest  class,  six  steam-sloops,  and  six  smaller  vessels,  a 
precise  title  for  which  I  do  not  know.  I  myself  have  usually 
called  them  by  the  French  name  corvette,  which  has  a 
recognized  place  in  English  marine  phraseology,  and  means 
a  sloop-of-war  of  the  smaller  class.  A  transfer  of  terms 
accompanying  a  change  of  system  is  apt  to  be  marked  by 
anomalies. 

30 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

Tliese  eighteen  vessels  were  the  nucleus  of  the  fighting 
force  with  which  the  government  met  the  war  of  186i. 
In  the  frigates  and  sloops  steam  was  purely  auxiliary ;  they 
had  every  spar  and  sail  of  the  sailing  ships  to  which  they 
corresponded.  Four  of  the  larger  sloops — the  Hartford, 
Richmond,  Brooklyn,  and  Pensacola — constituted  the  back- 
bone of  Farragut's  fleet  throughout  his  operations  in  the 
Mississippi.  The  Lancaster,  one  of  the  finest  of  these  five 
sisters,  was  already  in  the  Pacific,  and  there  remained 
throughout  the  contest ;  wliile  the  San  Jacinto,  being  of  dif- 
ferent type  and  size,  was  employed  rather  as  a  cruiser  than 
for  the  important  operations  of  war.  It  was  she  that 
arrested  the  Confederate  commissioners,  Slidell  and  Mason, 
on  board  the  British  mail-steamer  Trent,  in  1861.  The 
corvettes  for  the  most  part  were  also  employed  as  cruisers, 
being  at  once  less  effective  in  battery,  for  river  work,  and 
swifter.  They  alone  of  the  vessels  built  in  the  fifties  were 
engined  for  speed,  as  speed  went  in  those  days;  but  their 
sail  power  also  was  ample,  though  somewhat  reduced. 
One  of  them,  the  Iroquois,  accompanied  Farragut  to  New 
Orleans,  as  did  a  sister  ship  to  her,  the  Oneida,  which  was 
laid  down  in  1861,  after  many  Southern  Senators  and  Rep- 
resentatives had  left  their  seats  in  Congress  and  the  seces- 
sion movement  became  ominous  of  war;  when  it  began  to 
be  admitted  that  perhaps,  after  all,  for  sufficient  cause, 
brothers  might  shed  the  blood  of  brothers. 

The  steam-frigates  were  of  too  deep  draught  to  be  of 
much  use  in  the  shoal  waters,  to  which  the  nature  of  the 
hostilities  and  the  character  of  the  Southern  coast  con- 
fined naval  operations.  Being  extremely  expensive  in 
upkeep,  with  enormous  crews,  and  not  having  speed  under 
steam  to  make  them  effective  chasers,  they  were  of  little 
avail  against  an  enemy  who  had  not,  and  could  not  have, 
any  ships  at  sea  heavy  enough  to  compete  with  them. 
The  Wabash  of  this  class  bore  the  flag  of  Admiral  Dupont 

31 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

at  the  capture  of  Port  Royal ;  and  after  the  fight  the  negroes 
who  had  witnessed  it  on  shore  reported  that  when  "that 
checker-sided  ship,"  following  the  elliptical  course  pre- 
scribed to  the  squadron  for  the  engagement,  came  abreast 
the  enemy's  works,  the  gunners,  after  one  experience,  took 
at  once  to  cover.  No  barbette  or  merely  embrasured 
battery  of  that  day  could  stand  up  against  the  twenty  or 
more  heavy  guns  carried  on  each  broadside  by  the  steam- 
frigates,  if  these  could  get  near  enough.  At  New  Orleans, 
even  the  less  numerous  pieces  of  the  sloops  beat  down 
opposition  so  long  as  they  remained  in  front  of  Fort  St. 
Philip  and  close  to;  but  when  they  passed  on,  so  the  first 
lieutenant  of  one  of  them  told  me,  the  enemy  returned  to  his 
guns  and  hammered  them  severely.  This  showed  that  the 
fort  was  not  seriously  injured  nor  its  armament  decisively 
crippled,  but  that  the  personnel  was  completely  dominated 
by  the  fire  of  many  heavy  guns  during  the  critical  period 
required  for  the  smaller  as  well  as  larger  vessels  to  pass. 
As  most  of  the  river  work  was  of  this  character,  the  broad- 
sides of  the  sloops  were  determinative,  and  those  of  the 
frigates  would  have  been  more  so,  could  they  have  been 
brought  to  the  scene;  but  they  could  not.  Much  labor  was 
expended  in  the  attempt  to  drag  the  Colorado,  sister  ship 
to  the  Wahash,  across  the  bar  of  the  Mississippi,  but 
fruitlessly. 

For  the  reason  named,  the  screw -frigates  built  in  the 
fifties?  had  little  active  share  in  the  Civil  War.  Were  they 
then,  from  a  national  stand-point,  uselessly  built?  Not 
unless  preparation  for  war  is  to  be  rejected,  and  reliance 
placed  upon  extemporized  means.  To  this  resort  our 
people  have  always  been  inclined  to  trust  unduly,  owing 
to  a  false  or  partial  reading  of  history;  but  to  it  they  were 
excusably  compelled  by  the  extensive  demands  of  the 
War  of  Secession,  which  could  scarcely  have  been  an- 
ticipated.   At  the  time  these  frigates  were  built,  they  were, 

32 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

by  their  dimensions  and  the  character  of  their  armaments, 
much  the  most  formidable  ships  of  their  class  afloat,  or  as 
yet  designed.  Though  correctly  styled  frigates — having 
but  one  covered  deck  of  guns — they  were  open  to  the  charge, 
brought  against  our  frigates  in  1812  by  the  British,  of 
being  ships-of-the-line  in  disguise;  and  being  homogeneous 
in  qualities,  they  would,  in  acting  together,  have  presented 
a  line  of  battle  extorting  very  serious  consideration  from 
any  probable  foreign  enemy.  It  was  for  such  purpose 
they  were  built;  and  it  was  no  reproach  to  their  designers 
that,  being  intended  to  meet  a  probable  contingency,  they 
were  too  big  for  one  which  very  few  men  thought  likely. 
At  that  moment,  when  the  portentous  evolution  of  naval 
material  which  my  time  has  witnessed  was  but  just  be- 
ginning, they  were  thoroughly  up-to-date,  abreast  and 
rather  ahead  of  the  conclusions  as  yet  reached  by  con- 
temporary opinion.  The  best  of  compliments  was  paid 
them  by  the  imitation  of  other  navies;  for,  when  the  first 
one  was  finished,  we  sent  her  abroad  on  exhibition,  much 
like  a  hen  cackling  over  its  last  performance,  with  the  re- 
sult that  we  had  not  long  to  congratulate  ourselves  on  the 
newest  and  best  thing.  It  is  this  place  in  a  long  series  of 
development  which  gives  them  their  historical  interest. 

But  if  the  frigates  were  unfitted  to  the  particular 
emergency  of  a  civil  contest,  scarcely  to  be  discerned  as 
imminent  in  1855,  the  advantage  of  preparation  for  general 
service  is  avouched  by  the  history  of  the  first  year  of 
hostilities,  even  so  exceptional  as  those  of  1861  and  1862. 
Within  a  year  of  the  first  Bull  Run,  Farragut's  squadron 
had  fought  its  way  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  to 
Vicksburg.  That  the  extreme  position  was  not  held  was 
not  the  fault  of  the  ships,  but  of  backwardness  in  other 
undertakings  of  the  nation.  All  the  naval  vessels  that 
subdued  New  Orleans  had  been  launched  and  ready  before 
the  war,  except  the  Oneida  and  the  gunboats;  and  to  at- 

33 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

tribute  any  determinative  effect  in  such  operations  to  the 
gunboats,  with  their  one  heavy  gun,  is  to  misunderstand 
the  conditions.  Even  a  year  later,  at  the  very  important 
passage  of  Port  Hudson,  the  fighting  work  was  done  by 
the  Hartford,  Richmond,  Mississippi,  and  Monongahela; 
of  which  only  the  last  named,  and  least  powerful,  was  built 
after  the  war  began.  It  would  be  difficult  to  overrate  the 
value,  material  and  moral,  of  the  early  successes  which  led 
the  way  to  the  opening  of  the  great  river,  due  to  having  the 
ships  and  officers  ready.  So  the  important  advantages 
obtained  by  the  capture  of  Port  Royal  in  South  Carolina, 
and  of  Hatteras  Inlet  in  North  Carolina,  within  the  first  six 
months,  were  the  results  of  readiness,  slight  and  inadequate 
as  that  was  in  reference  to  anything  hke  a  great  naval  war. 
A  brief  analysis  of  the  composition  of  the  navy  at  the 
opening  of  the  War  of  Secession,  will  bring  out  still  more 
vividly  how  vitally  important  to  the  issue  were  the  addi- 
tions of  the  decade  1850-60.  In  March,  1861,  when  Lin- 
coln was  inaugurated,  the  available  ships -of -war  at  sea, 
or  in  the  yards,  numbered  sixty-one.  Of  these  thirty-four 
were  sailing  vessels,  substantially  worthless;  although,  as 
the  commerce  of  the  world  was  still  chiefly  carried  on  by 
sailing  ships,  they  could  be  of  some  slight  service  against 
these  attempting  to  pass  a  blockade.  For  the  most  part, 
however,  they  were  but  scarecrows,  if  even  respected  as 
such.  Of  the  twenty-seven  steamers,  only  six  dated  from 
before  1850;  the  remainder  were  being  built  when  I  en- 
tered the  Naval  Academy  in  September,  1856.  Their 
construction,  with  all  that  it  meant,  constituted  a  principal 
part  of  the  environment  into  which  I  was  then  brought, 
of  which  the  recasting  of  the  list  of  officers  was  the  other 
most  important  and  significant  feature.  Both  were  revolu- 
tionary in  character,  and  prophetic  of  further  changes 
quite  beyond  the  foresight  of  contemporaries.  From  this 
point  of  view,  the  period  in  question  has  the  character  of 

34 


NAVAL  CONDITIONS  BEFORE  THE  WAR 

an  epoch,  initiated,  made  possible,  by  the  invention  of  the 
screw-propeller;  which,  in  addition  to  the  better  nautical 
qualities  associated  with  it,  permitted  the  defence  of  the 
machinery  by  submersion,  and  of  the  sides  of  the  ship  by 
the  application  of  armor.  In  this  lay  the  germ  of  the  race 
between  the  armor  and  the  gun,  involving  almost  directly 
the  attempt  to  reach  the  parts  which  armor  cannot  protect, 
the  underwater  body,  by  means  of  the  torpedo.  The  in- 
creases of  weight  induced  by  'the  competition  of  gun  and 
armor  led  necessarily  to  increase  of  size,  which  in  turn  lent 
itself  to  increases  of  speed  that  have  been  pushed  beyond 
the  strictly  necessary,  and  at  all  events  are  neither  mili- 
tarily nor  logically  involved  in  the  progress  made.  It  has 
remained  to  me  always  a  matter  of  interest  and  satisfaction 
that  I  first  knew  the  navy,  was  in  close  personal  contact 
and  association  with  it,  in  this  period  of  unconscious 
transition;  and  that  to  the  fact  of  its  being  yet  incomplete 
I  have  owed  the  .experience  of  vessels,  now  wholly  extinct, 
of  which  it  would  be  no  more  than  truth  to  say  that  in  all 
essential  details  they  were  familiar  to  the  men  of  two 
hundred  years  ago.  Nay,  in  their  predecessors  of  that 
date,  as  transmitted  to  us  by  contemporary  prints,  it  is 
easy  to  trace  the  development,  in  form,  of  the  ships  I  have 
known  from  the  media3val  galley;  and  this,  were  the  records 
equally  complete,  would  doubtless  find  its  rudimentary 
outlines  in  the  triremes  of  the  ancient  world.  Of  this 
evolution  of  structure  clear  evidences  remain  also  in  ter- 
minology, even  now  current;  survivals  which,  if  the  facts 
were  unknown,  would  provoke  curiosity  and  inquiry  as  to 
their  origin,  as  physiologists  seek  to  reconstruct  the  past 
of  a  race  from  scanty  traces  still  extant. 

I  have  said  that  the  character  of  the  ships  then  building 
constituted  a  chief  part  of  my  environment  in  entering  the 
navy.  The  effect  was  inevitable,  and  amounted  in  fact 
simply  to  making  me  a  man  of  my  period.     My  most  sus- 

35 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

ceptible  years  were  colored  by  the  still  lingering  traditions 
of  the  sail  period,  and  of  the  " marling-spike  seaman;"  not 
that  I,  always  clumsy  with  my  fingers,  had  any  promise 
of  ever  distinguishing  myself  with  the  marling-spike.  This 
expressive  phrase,  derived  from  its  chief  tool,  characterized 
the  whole  professional  equipment  of  the  then  mechanic  of 
the  sea,  of  the  man  who,  given  the  necessary  rope-yarns, 
and  the  spars  shaped  by  a  carpenter,  could  take  a  bare  hull 
as  she  lay  for  the  first  time  quietly  at  anchor  from  the 
impetus  of  her  launch,  and  equip  her  for  sea  without  other 
assistance;  "parbuckle"  on  iDoard  her  spars  lying  along- 
side her  in  the  stream,  fit  her  rigging,  bend  her  sails,  stow 
her  hold,  and  present  her  all  a-taunt-o  to  the  men  who  were 
to  sail  her.  The  navigation  of  a  ship  thus  equipped  was  a 
field  of  seamanship  apart  from  that  of  the  marling-spike; 
but  the  men  who  sailed  her  to  all  parts  of  the  earth  were 
expected  to  be  able  to  do  all  the  preliminary  work  them- 
selves, often  did  do  it,  and  considered  it  quite  as  truly  a 
part  of  their  business  as  the  handling  her  at  sea.  Of 
course,  in  equipping  ships,  as  in  all  other  business,  specializa- 
tion had  come  in  with  progress;  there  were  rope-makers, 
there  were  riggers  who  took  the  ropes  ready-made  and 
fitted  them  for  the  ship,  and  there  were  stevedores  to  stow 
holds,  etc.;  but  the  tradition  ran  that  the  seaman  should 
be  able  on  a  pinch  to  do  all  this  himself,  and  the  tradition 
kept  alive  the  practice,  which  derived  from  the  days  not 
yet  wholly  passed  away  when  he  might,  and  often  did,  have 
to  refit  his  vessel  in  scenes  far  distant  from  any  help  other 
than  his  own,  and  without  any  resources  save  those  which 
his  ready  wit  could  adapt  from  materials  meant  for  quite 
different  uses.  How  to  make  a  jib-boom  do  the  work  of  a 
topsail-yard,  or  to  utilize  spare  spars  in  rigging  a  jury- 
rudder,  were  specimens  of  the  problems  then  presented  to 
the  aspiring  seaman.  It  was  somewhere  in  the  thirties,  not 
so  very  long  before  my  time,  that  a  Captain  Rous,  of  the 

36 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

British  navy,  achieved  renown — I  would  say  immortal, 
were  I  not  afraid  that  most  peoph^  have  forgotten — by 
bringing  his  frigate  home  from  Labrador  to  England  after 
losing  her  rudder.  It  is  said  that  he  subsequently  ran  for 
Parliament,  and  when  on  the  hustings  some  doubter  asked 
about  his  political  record,  he  answered,  "I  am  Captain 
Rous  who  brought  the  Pique  across  the  Atlantic  without  a 
rudder."  Of  course  the  reply  was  lustily  cheered,  and 
deservedly;  for  in  such  seas,  with  a  ship  dependent  upon 
sails  only,  it  was  a  splendid,  if  somewhat  reckless  achieve- 
ment. Cooper,  in  his  Homeward  Bound,  places  the  ship 
dismasted  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  Close  at  hand,  but  on 
the  beach,  lies  a  wrecked  vessel  with  her  spars  standing ;  and 
there  is  no  exaggeration  in  the  words  he  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  Captain  Truck,  as  he  looked  upon  these  re- 
sources: ''The  seaman  who,  with  sticks,  and  ropes,  and 
blocks  enough,  cannot  rig  his  ship,  might  as  well  stay 
ashore  and  publish  an  hebdomadal." 

Such  was  the  marling-spike  seaman  of  the  days  of  Coo- 
per and  Marryat,  and  such  was  still  the  able  seaman,  the 
"  A.B.,"  of  1855.  It  was  not  indeed  necessary,  nor  expect- 
ed, that  most  naval  officers  should  do  such  things  with 
their  own  hands;  but  it  was  justly  required  that  they  should 
know  when  a  job  of  marling-spike  seamanship  was  well  or 
ill  done,  and  be  able  to  supervise,  when  necessary.  Napo- 
leon is  reported  to  have  said  that  he  could  judge  person- 
ally whether  the  shoes  furnished  his  soldiers  were  well  or  ill 
made;  but  he  needed  not  to  be  a  shoemaker.  Marryat, 
commenting  on  one  of  his  characters,  says  that  he  had 
seldom  known  an  officer  who  prided  himself  on  his  "  prac- 
tical" knowledge  who  was  at  the  same  time  a  good  navi- 
gator; and  that  such  too  often  "lower  the  respect  due  to 
them  by  assuming  the  Jack  Tar."  Oddly  enough,  lunch- 
ing once  with  an  old  and  distinguished  British  admiral, 
who  had  been  a  midshipman  while  Marryat  still  lived,  he 

37 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

told  me  that  he  remembered  him  well;  his  reputation,  he 
added,  was  that  of  "  an  excellent  seaman,  but  not  much  of 
an  officer,"  an  expressive  phrase,  current  in  our  own  ser- 
vice, and  which  doubtless  has  its  equivalent  in  all  maritime 
languages. 

In  my  early  naval  life  I  came  into  curious  accidental 
contact  with  just  such  a  person  as  Marryat  described. 
I  was  still  at  the  Academy,  within  a  year  of  graduation,  and 
had  been  granted  a  few  days'  leave  at  Christmas.  Return- 
ing by  rail,  there  seated  himself  alongside  me  a  gentleman 
who  proved  to  be  a  lieutenant  from  the  flag-ship  of  the 
Home  Squadron,  going  to  Washington  with  despatches. 
Becoming  known  to  each  other,  he  began  to  question  me 
as  to  what  new  radicalisms  were  being  fostered  in  Annapo- 
hs.  "Are  they  still  wasting  the  young  men's  time  over 
French?  I  would  not  permit  them  to  learn  any  other 
language  than  their  own.  And  how  about  seamanship? 
What  do  they  know  about  that?  As  far  as  I  have  observed 
they  know  nothing  about  marling-spike  seamanship,  strap- 
ping blocks,  fitting  rigging,  etc.  Now  I  can  sit  down  along- 
side of  any  seaman  doing  a  bit  of  work  and  show  him  how 
it  ought  to  be  done ;  yes,  and  do  it  myself."  It  was  Marry- 
at's  lieutenant,  Phillott,  ipsissimis  verbis.  I  hstened,  over- 
awed by  the  weight  of  authority  and  experience;  and  I  fear 
somewhat  in  sympathy,  for  such  talk  was  in  the  air,  part 
of  the  environment  of  an  old  order  slowly  and  reluctantly 
giving  way  to  a  new. 

Of  course  I  shared  this;  how  should  I  not,  at  eighteen? 
In  giving  expression  to  it  once,  I  drew  down  on  my  head  a 
ringing  buffet  from  my  father,  in  which  he  embodied  an 
anecdote  of  Decatur  I  never  saw  elsewhere,  and  fancy 
he  owed  to  his  boyhood  passed  near  a  navy-yard  town- 
Portsmouth,  Virginia— while  Decatur  was  in  his  prime.  I 
had  written  home  with  reference  to  some  study,-  in  which 
probably  I  did  not  shine,  "  What  did  Decatur  know  about 

38 


NAVAL    CONDITIONS    BEFORE    THE    WAR 

such  things?"  A  boy  may  be  pardoned  for  laying  himself 
open  to  the  retort  which  so  many  of  his  superiors  equally 
invited:  "Depend  upon  it,  if  Decatur  had  been  a  student 
at  the  Academy,  he  would,  so  far  as  his  abilities  permitted, 
have  got  as  far  to  the  front  as  he  always  did  in  fighting. 
He  always  aimed  to  be  first.  It  is  told  of  him  that  he 
commanded  one  of  two  ships  ordered  on  a  common  ser- 
vice, in  which  the  other  arrived  first  at  a  point  on  the  way. 
Her  captain,  instead  of  pushing  forward,  waited  for  De- 
catur to  come  up;  on  hearing  which  the  latter  exclaimed  in 

his  energetic  way,  '  The  d d  fool!' "     Decatur,  however, 

also  shared,  and  shared  inevitably,  the  prepossessions  of 
his  day.  I  was  told  by  Mr.  Charles  King,  when  President 
of  Columbia  College,  that  he  had  been  present  in  company 
with  Decatur  at  one  of  the  early  experiments  in  steam 
navigation.  Crude  as  the  appliances  still  were,  demon- 
stration was  conclusive;  and  Decatur,  whatever  his  prej- 
udices, was  open  to  conviction.  "Yes,"  he  said,  gloomily, 
to  King,  "  it  is  the  end  of  our  business ;  hereafter  any  man 
who  can  boil  a  tea-kettle  will  be  as  good  as  the  best  of  us." 
It  is  notable  that  in  my  day  a  tradition  ran  that  Decatur 
himself  was  not  thoroughly  a  seaman.  The  captain  of  the 
first  ship  in  which  I  served  after  graduation,  a  man  of  much 
solid  information,  who  had  known  the  commodore's  con- 
temporaries, speaking  about  some  occurrence,  said  to  me, 
"  The  trouble  with  Decatur  was,  that  he  was  not  a  seaman." 
I  repeated  the  remark  to  one  of  our  lieutenants,  and  he 
ejaculated,  with  emphasis,  "Yes,  that  is  true."  I  cannot 
tell  how  far  these  opinions  were  the  result  of  prepossession  in 
those  from  whom  they  derived.  There  had  been  hard  and 
factious  division  in  the  navy  of  Decatur's  day,  culminating 
in  the  duel  in  which  he  fell;  and  the  lieutenant,  at  least, 
was  associated  by  family  ties  with  Decatur's  antagonist. 
To  deny  that  the  methods  of  the  Naval  Academy  were 
open  to  criticism  would  be  to  claim  for  them  infallibility. 

39 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

Upon  the  whole,  however,  in  my  time  they  erred  rather  on 
the  side  of  being  over-conservative  than  miduly  progressive. 
Twenty  years  later,  recalling  some  of  our  Academy  ex- 
periences to  one  of  my  contemporaries,  himself  more  a 
man  of  action  than  a  student,  and  who  had  meanwhile 
distinguished  himself  by  extraordinary  courage  in  the  War 
of  Secession— I  mean  Edward  Terry— he  said,  "Oh  yes, 
those  were  the  days  before  the  flood."  The  hold-back  ele- 
ment was  strong,  though  not  sufficiently  so  to  suit  such  as 
my  friend  of  the  railroad.  Objectors  laid  great  stress  on 
the  word  "practical;"  than  which,  with  all  its  most  re- 
spectable derivation  and  association,  I  know  none  more 
frequently— nor  more  effectually— used  as  a  bludgeon  for 
slaying  ideas.  Strictly,  of  course,  it  means  knowing  how 
to  do  things,  and  doing  them;  but  colloquially  it  usually 
means  doing  them  before  learning  how.  Leap  before  you 
look.  The  practical  part  is  bruising  your  shins  for  lack  of 
previous  reflection.  Of  course,  no  one  denies  the  educa- 
tional value  of  breaking  your  shins,  and  everything  else 
your  own— a  burnt  child  dreads  the  fire;  but  the  question 
remains  whether  an  equally  good  result  may  not  be  reached 
at  less  cost,  and  so  be  more  really  practical.  I  recall  the 
fine  scorn  with  which  one  of  our  professors,  Chauvenet,  a 
man  of  great  and  acknowledged  ability,  practical  and  other, 
used  to  speak  of  "practical  men."  "Now,  young  gentle- 
men, in  adjusting  your  theodolites  in  the  field,  remember 
not  to  bear  too  hard  on  the  screws.  Don't  put  them  down 
with  main  force,  as  though  the  one  object  was  never  to 
unscrew  them.  If  you  do,  you  indent  the  plate,  and  it 
will  soon  be  quite  impossible  to  level  the  instrument  proper- 
ly. That,"  he  would  continue,  "  is  the  way  with  your  prac- 
tical men.    There,  for  instance,  is  Mr. ,"  naming  an 

assistant  in  another  department,  known  to  the  midshipmen 
as  Bull-pup,  who  I  suppose  had  been  a  practical  surveyor; 
"  that  is  what  he  does."     I  presume  the  denunciation  was 

40 


NAVAL  CONDITIONS   BEFORE   THE  WAR 

due  to  B.  P.  having  at  one  time  borrowed  an  instrument 
from  the  department,  and  returned  it  thus  maltreated. 
But  "practical,"  so  misapplied — action  without  thought — 
was  Chauvenet's  red  rag. 

An  amusing  reminiscence,  illustrative  of  the  same  com- 
mon tendency,  was  told  me  by  General  Howard.  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  meeting  Howard,  then  in  command  of  one 
wing  of  Sherman's  army,  at  Savannah,  just  after  the  con- 
clusion of  the  march  to  the  sea,  in  1864.  He  spoke  pleas- 
antly of  his  associations  with  my  father,  when  a  cadet  at 
the  Military  Academy,  and  added,  "I  remember  how  he 
used  to  say,  'A  httle  common-sense,  Mr.  Howard,  a  little 
§  common-sense.'"  Howard  did  not  say  what  particular 
occasions  he  then  had  in  mind,  but  a  student  reciting,  and 
confronted  suddenly  with  some  question,  or  step  in  a  de- 
monstration, which  he  has  failed  to  master,  or  upon  which 
he  has  not  reflected,  is  apt  to  feel  that  the  practical  thing 
to  do  is  not  to  admit  ignorance;  to  trust  to  luck  and  an- 
swer at  random.  Such  a  one,  explaining  a  drawing  of  a 
bridge  to  my  father,  was  asked  by  him  what  was  repre- 
sented by  certain  lines,  showing  the  up-stream  part  of  a 
pier.  Not  knowing,  he  replied,  "  That  is  a  hole  to  catch 
the  ice  in."  "Imagine,"  said  my  father,  in  telling  me  the 
story,  "catching  all  the  ice  from  above  in  holes  in  the 
piers."  A  little  common-sense — exercised  first,  not  after- 
wards— is  the  prescription  against  leaping  before  you  look, 
or  jamming  your  screws  too  hard. 

To  substitute  acquired  common-sense — knowledge  and 
reflection — for  the  cruder  and  tardier  processes  of  learning 
by  hard  personal  experience  and  mistakes,  is,  of  course,  the 
object  of  all  education;  and  it  was  this  which  caused  the 
foundation  of  the  Naval  Academy,  behind  which  at  its 
beginning  lay  the  initiative  of  some  of  the  most  reputed 
and  accomplished  senior  officers  of  the  navy,  conscious  of 
the  needless  difficulties  they  themselves  had  had  to  siu*- 

41 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

mount  in  reaching  the  level  they  had.  It  involved  no 
detraction  from  their  professional  excellence,  the  excellence 
of  men  professionally  self-made;  but  none  comprehend  the 
advantages  of  education  better  than  candid  men  who  have 
made  their  way  without  it.  By  the  time  I  entered,  how- 
ever, there  had  been  a  decided,  though  not  decisive,  reaction 
in  professional  feehng.  Ten  years  had  elapsed  since  the 
founding  of  the  school,  and  already  development  had  gone 
so  far  that  suspicion  and  antagonism  were  aroused.  Up  to 
1850  midshipmen  went  at  once  to  sea,  and,  after  five  years 
there,  spent  one  at  Annapolis ;  whereupon  followed  the  final 
examination  for  a  lieutenancy.  This  effected,  the  man  be- 
came a  "passed"  midshipman.  Beginning  with  1851,  the^ 
system  was  changed.  Four  years  at  the  Academy  were  re- 
quired, after  which  two  at  sea,  and  then  examination. 
This,  being  a  clean  break  with  the  past,  outraged  conserv- 
atism; it  introduced  such  abominations  as  French  and 
extended  mathematics;  much  attention  was  paid  to  in- 
fantry drill — soldiering;  the  scheme  was  not  "practical;" 
and  it  was  doubtless  true  that  the  young  graduate,  despite 
six  months  of  simimer  cruising  interposed  between  aca- 
demic terms,  came  comparatively  green  to  shipboard.  In 
that  particular  respect  he  could  not  but  compare  for  the 
moment  unfavorably  with  one  who  under  the  old  plan 
would  have  spent  four  years  on  a  ship's  deck.  Whether, 
that  brief  period  of  inexperience  passed,  he  would  not  be 
permanently  the  better  for  the  prior  initiation  into  the 
rationale  of  his  business,  few  inquired,  and  time  had  not 
yet  had  opportunity  to  show. 

Perhaps,  too,  there  was  among  the  graduates  something 
of  the  "freshness"  which  is  attributed  to  the  same  age  in 
leaving  a  university.  I  do  not  think  it;  the  immediate 
contact  with  conditions  but  partly  familiar  to  us,  yet  per- 
fectly familiar  to  all  about  us,  excited  rather  a  wholesome 
feeling  of  inferiority  or  inadequacy.     We  had  yet  to  find 

42 


NAVAL  CONDITIONS  BEFORE  THE  WAR 

ourselves.  But  there  remained  undoubtedly  some  antag- 
onism between  the  old  and  the  new.  Not  that  this  ever 
showed  itself  offensively;  nothing  could  have  been  kinder 
or  more  open-hearted  than  our  reception  by  the  lieuten- 
ants who  had  not  known  the  Academy,  and  who  probably 
depreciated  it  in  their  hearts.  Whatever  they  thought, 
nothing  was  ever  said  that  could  reflect  upon  us,  the  out- 
come of  the  system.  It  was  not  even  hinted  that  we 
might  have  been  turned  out  in  better  shape  midcr  differ- 
ent conditions.  From  my  personal  experience,  I  hope  we 
proved  more  satisfactory  than  may  have  been  expected. 
When  we  returned  home  in  1861,  just  after  the  first  battle 
of  Bull  Run,  our  third  lieutenant  said  to  me  that  he  ex- 
pected a  command,  and  would  be  glad  to  have  me  as  his 
first  lieutenant;  and  upon  my  detachment  one  of  the  war- 
rant officers  expressed  his  regret  that  I  was  not  remaining 
as  one  of  the  lieutenants  of  the  ship.  Both  being  men  of 
niatm^e  years  and  long  service,  and  with  no  obligation  to 
speak,  it  is  permissible  to  infer  that  they  thought  us  fit 
at  least  to  take  the  deck.  As  it  was,  in  the  uproar  of  those 
days,  no  questions  were  asked.  The  usual  examinations 
were  waived,  and  my  class  was  hurried  out  of  the  midship- 
men's mess  into  the  first-lieutenant's  berth.  Without  ex- 
ception, I  believe,  we  all  had  that  duty  at  once — second  to 
the  captain — missing  thereby  the  very  valuable  experience 
of  the  deck  officer.  In  the  face  of  considerable  opposition, 
as  I  was  told  by  Admiral  Dupont,  the  leading  officers  of 
the  day  frustrated  the  attempt  to  introduce  volunteer  offi- 
cers from  the  merchant  service  over  our  heads;  another 
proof  of  confidence  in  us,  as  at  least  good  raw  material. 
The  longer  practice  of  the  others  at  sea  was  alleged  as  a 
reason  for  thus  preferring  them,  which  was  seriously  con- 
templated; but  the  reply  was  that  acquaintance  with  the 
organization  of  a  ship-of-war,  with  her  equipment  and  ar- 
mament, the  general  military  tone  so  quickly  assimilated 

43 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

by  the  young  and  so  hardly  by  the  mature,  outweighed 
completely  any  mere  question  of  attainment  in  handhng  a 
ship.  As  drill  officers,  too,  the  general  excellence  of  the 
graduates  was  admitted. 

Within  a  fortnight  of  doing  duty  on  the  forecastle,  as  a 
midshipman,  I  thus  found  myself  first  lieutenant  of  a  very 
respectable  vessel.  One  of  my  shipmates,  less  quickly 
fortunate,  was  detailed  to  instruct  a  number  of  volunteer 
officers  with  the  great  guns  and  muskets.  One  of  them 
said  to  him,  ''  Yes,  you  can  teach  me  this,  but  I  expect  I 
can  teach  you  something  in  seamanship";  a  freedom  of 
speech  which  by  itself  showed  imperfect  military  temper. 
At  the  same  moment,  I  myself  had  a  somewhat  similar 
encounter,  which  illustrates  why  the  old  officers  insisted 
on  the  superior  value  of  military  habit,  and  the  neces- 
sarily unmilitary  attitude,  at  first,  of  the  volunteers.  I 
had  been  sent  momentarily  to  a  paddle-wheel  merchant- 
steamer,  now  purchased  for  a  ship-of-war,  the  James  Adger, 
which  had  plied  between  Charleston  and  New  York.  A 
day  or  two  after  joining,  I  saw  two  of  the  engineer  force 
going  ashore  without  my  knowledge.  I  stopped  them;  and 
a  few  moments  afterwards  the  chief  engineer,  who  had  long 
been  in  her  when  she  was  a  packet,  came  to  me  with  flaming 
eyes  and  angry  voice  to  know  by  what  right  I  interfered 
with  his  men.  It  had  to  be  explained  to  him  that,  unlike 
the  merchant-service,  the  engine-room  was  but  a  depart- 
ment of  the  military  whole  of  the  ship,  and  that  other  con- 
sent than  his  was  necessary  to  their  departure.  A  trivial 
incident,  with  a  whole  world  of  atmosphere  behind  it. 


Ill 

THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY  IN   ITS  RELATION   TO  THE  NAVY 

AT   LARGE. 

1850-1860 

Probably  there  have  been  at  all  periods  educational 
excesses  in  the  outlook  of  some  of  the  Naval  Academy  au- 
thorities; and  I  personally  have  sympathized  in  the  main 
with  those  who  would  subordinate  the  technological  ele- 
ment to  the  more  strictly  professional.  I  remember  one 
superintendent — and  he,  unless  rumor  was  in  error,  had 
been  one  of  the  early  opposition — saying  to  me  with  mark- 
ed elation,  "I  believe  we  carry  the  calculus  farther  here 
than  they  do  at  West  Point."  I  myself  had  then  long 
forgotten  all  the  calculus  I  ever  knew,  and  I  fear  that  with 
him,  too,  it  was  a  case  of  omne  ignotum  pro  magnifico.  A 
more  curious  extravagancy  was  uttered  to  me  by  a  pro- 
fessor of  appHed  mathematics.  I  had  happened  to  say 
that,  while  it  was  well  each  student  should  have  the  oppor- 
tunity to  acquire  all  he  could  in  that  department,  I  did  not 
think  it  necessary  that  every  officer  of  the  deck  should 
be  able  to  calculate  mathematically  the  relation  between  a 
weight  he  had  to  hoist  on  board  and  the  power  of  the  pur- 
chase he  was  about  to  use;  which  I  think  a  mild  proposition, 
considering  the  centuries  during  which  that  knowledge  had 
been  dispensed  with.  ''Oh,  I  differ  with  you,"  he  replied; 
"I  think  it  of  the  utmost  importance  they  should  all  be 
able  to  do  so."  Nothing  like  sails,  said  my  friend  the  sail- 
maker;  nothing  like  leather,  says  the  shoemaker.  I  men- 
tioned this  shortly  afterwards  to  one  of  my  colleagues, 
4  45 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEM! 

himself  an  officer  of  unusual  mathematical  and  scientific 
attainment.  "No!"  he  exclaimed;  "did  he  really  say 
that?" 

This  was  to  claim  for  this  mere  head  knowledge  a  falsely 
"practical"  value,  as  distinguished  from  the  educational 
value  of  the  mental  training  involved,  and  from  the  un- 
doubted imperative  need  of  such  acquisitions  in  those  who 
have  to  deal  with  problems  of  ship  construction  or  other 
mechanical  questions  connected  with  naval  material.  His 
position  was  really  as  little  practical  as  that  of  the  men 
who  opposed  the  Academy  plan  in  general  as  unpractical; 
as  httle  practical  as  it  would  be  to  maintain  that  it  is  essen- 
tial that  every  naval  officer  to-day  should  be  skilled  to 
handle  a  ship  under  sail,  because  the  habit  of  the  sailing- 
ship  educated,  brought  out,  faculties  and  habits  of  the  first 
value  to  the  military  man.  Still,  there  is  something  not 
only  excusable,  but  laudable,  in  a  man  magnifying  his 
office;  and  it  was  well  that  my  friend  the  professor  should 
have  a  slightly  exaggerated  idea  of  the  bearing  of  the  cal- 
culus on  the  daily  routine  or  occasional  emergencies  of  a 
ship.  "What  is  needed  is  a  counterpoise,  to  correct  undue 
deflection  of  the  like  kind,  to  which  an  educational  institu- 
tion from  its  very  character  and  object  is  always  liable. 
That  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  the 
Sabbath,  is  a  saying  of  wide  application.  The  adminis- 
trator tends  to  think  more  of  his  administrative  machine 
than  of  the  object  for  which  it  exists,  and  the  educator  to 
forget  that  while  the  foundation  is  essential,  it  yet  exists 
only  for  the  building,  which  is  the  "practical"  end  in  view. 
The  object  of  naval  education  is  to  make  a  naval  officer. 
Too  much  as  well  as  too  little  of  one  ingredient  will  mar 
the  compound ;  and  if  exaggeration  cannot  be  wholly  avoid- 
ed, it  had  better  rest  upon  the  professional  side.  This 
was  the  function  discharged  by  the  critical  attitude  of  the 
outside  service,  such  as  my  friend  of  the  railroad;  at  times 

46 


THE   NAVAL    ACADEMY 

soiiKnvh.it  irrational,  Init  still  as  a  check  effective  after  the 
inaimer  of  other  public  opinion,  of  which  in  fact  it  was  an 
instance. 

In  September,  1856,  when  I  entered,  professional  in- 
fluence was  perhaps  in  excess.  The  preceding  June  had 
seen  the  graduation  of  the  last  class  of  "oldsters" — of  those 
who,  after  five  years  at  sea,  had  spent  the  sixth  at  the 
Academy,  subjected  formally  to  its  discipline  and  methods. 
I  therefore  just  missed  seeing  that  phase  of  the  Academy's 
history;  but  I  could  not  thereby  escape  the  traces  of  its 
influence.  However  transient,  this  lasted  my  time.  It 
njj^y  be  imagined  what  an  influential,  yet  incongruous, 
element  in  a  crowd  of  boys  was  constituted  by  introducing 
among  them  twenty  or  thirty  young  men,  too  young  for 
ripeness,  yet  who  for  five  years  had  been  bearing  the  not 
slight  responsibility  of  the  charge  of  seamen,  often  on  duty 
away  from  their  superiors,  and  permitted  substantially  all 
the  powers  and  privileges  conceded  to  their  seniors,  men 
of  mature  years.  How  could  such  be  brought  under  the 
curb  of  the  narrowly  ordered  life  of  the  school,  for  the 
short  eight  months  to  which  they  knew  the  ordeal  was  re- 
stricted ?  Could  this  have  been  attempted  seriously,  there 
would  probably  have  been  an  explosion;  but  in  truth,  as 
far  as  my  observation  went,  most  of  the  disciplinary  offi- 
cers, the  lieutenants,  rather  sympathized  with  irregularities, 
within  pretty  wide  limits.  A  midshipman  was  a  being 
who  traditionally  had  little  but  the  exuberance  of  his 
spirits  to  make  up  for  the  discomforts  of  his  lot.  The 
comprehensive  saying  that  what  was  nobody's  business 
was  a  midshipman's  business  epitomized  the  harrying  of 
his  daily  life,  with  its  narrow  quarters,  hard  fare,  arid  con- 
stant hustling  for  poor  pay.  Like  the  seaman,  above  whom 
in  earlier  days  he  stood  but  little,  the  midshipman  had  then 
only  his  jollity — and  his  youth — to  compensate;  and  also 
like  the  seaman  a  certain  recklessness  was  conceded  to  his 

47 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

moments  of  enjoyment.    The  very  name  carried  with  it 
the  privilege  of  frohcking. 

The  old  times  of  license  among  seafaring  men  were  still 
of  recent  memory,  and,  though  practice  had  improved, 
opinion  remained  tolerant.  The  gmmer  of  the  first  ship 
in  which  I  served  after  graduation  told  me  that  in  1832, 
when  he  was  a  young  seaman  before  the  mast  on  board 
a  sloop-of-war  in  the  Mediterranean,  on  Christmas  Eve, 
there  being  a  two-knot  breeze— that  is,  substantially,  calm 
— at  sundown  the  ship  was  put  under  two  close-reefed 
topsails  for  the  night— storm  canvas— and  then  the  jollity 
began.  How  far  it  was  expected  to  go  may  be  infer^d 
from  the  precautions;  and  we  gain  here  some  inkling  of  the 
phrase  "heavy  weather"  applied  to  such  conditions.  But 
of  the  same  ship  he  told  me  that  she  stood  into  the  harbor 
of  Malta  under  all  sail,  royal  and  studding  sails,  to  make 
a  flying  moor;  which,  I  must  explain  to  the  unprofessional, 
is  to  drop  an  anchor  under  sail,  the  cable  running  out  under 
the  force  of  the  ship's  way  till  the  place  is  reached  for  let- 
ting go  the  second  anchor,  the  ship  finally  being  brought 
to  lie  midway  between  the  two.  An  accurate  eye,  a  close 
judgment  as  to  the  ship's  speed,  and  absolute  promptness 
of  execution  are  needed;  for  all  the  sail  that  is  on  when 
the  first  anchor  goes  must  be  off  before  the  second.  In 
this  case  nothing  was  started  before  the  first.  Withm 
fifteen  minutes  all  was  in,  the  ship  moored,  sails  furled, 
and  yards  squared,  awaiting  doubtless  the  final  touches 
of  the  boatswain.  Whether  the  flag  of  the  port  was  saluted 
within  the  same  quarter-hour,  I  will  not  undertake  to  say; 
it  would  be.quite  in  keeping  to  have  attempted  it.  System, 
preparation,  and  various  tricks  of  the  trade  go  far  to  fa- 
cihtate  such  rapidity.  Now  I  dare  say  that  some  of  my 
brother  officers  may  cavil  at  this  story;  but  I  personally 
believe  it,  with  perhaps  two  or  three  minutes'  allowance 
for  error  in  clocks.    Much  may  be  accepted  of  seamen  who 

48 


THE    NAVAL   ACADEMY 

not  uncommonly  reefed  topsails  "in  stays" — that  is,  while 
the  ship  was  being  tacked.  Of  the  narrator's  good  faith  I 
am  certain.  It  was  not  with  him  one  of  the  stock  stories 
told  about  "the  last  cruise;"  nor  was  he  a  romancer.  It 
came  naturally  in  course  of  conversation,  as  one  tells  any 
experience;  and  he  added,  when  the  British  admiral  re- 
turned the  commander's  visit  he  complimented  the  ship 
on  the  smartest  performance  he  had  ever  seen.  But  it  is 
in  the  combination  of  license  and  smartness  that  the  pith 
of  these  related  stories  lies;  between  them  they  embody 
much  of  the  spirit  of  a  time  which  in  1855  w^as  remembered 
and  influential.  Midway  in  the  War  of  Secession  I  met 
the  first  lieutenant  who  held  the  trumpet  in  that  memorable 
manoeuvre — a  man  of  1813;  now  a  quiet,  elderly,  slow- 
spoken  old  gentleman,  retired,  with  little  to  suggest  the 
smart  officer,  at  the  stamp  of  whose  foot  the  ship's  com- 
pany jumped,  to  use  the  gunner's  expression. 

Such  performances  exemplify  the  ideals  that  still  ob- 
tained— were  in  full  force — in  the  navy  as  first  I  knew 
it.  In  the  ship  in  which  the  gunner  and  I  were  then  serv- 
ing, it  was  our  common  performance  to  "Up  topgallant- 
masts  and  yards,  and  looge  sail  to  a  bowline,"  in  three 
minutes  and  a  half  from  the  time  the  topmen  and  the 
masts  started  aloft  together  from  the  deck.  For  this  time 
I  can  vouch  myself,  and  we  did  it  fairly,  too;  though  I  dare 
say  we  would  have  hesitated  to  carry  the  sails  in  a  stiff 
breeze  without  a  few  minutes  more.  It  was  a  very  dra- 
matic and  impressive  performance.  The  band,  wdth  drum 
and  fife,  was  part  of  it.  When  all  was  reported  ready  from 
the  three  masts  —  but  not  before  —  it  was  permitted  to 
be  eight  o'clock.  The  drums  gave  three  rolls,  the  order 
"Sway  across,  let  fall,"  was  given,  the  yards  swung  into 
their  places,  the  sails  dropped  and  were  dragged  out  by 
their  bowlines  to  facilitate  their  drying,  the  bell  struck 
eight,  the  flag  was  hoisted,  and  close  on  the  drums  followed 

49 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

the  band  playing  the  "Star-Spangled  Banner,"  while  the 
ship's  company  went  to  breakfast.  It  was  the  transfor- 
mation scene  of  a  theatre;  within  five  minutes  the  meta- 
morphosis was  complete.  There  was  doubtless  a  flavor 
of  the  circus  about  it  all,  but  it  was  a  wholesome  flavor  and 
tonicked  the  professional  appetite.  Yes,  and  the  natural 
appetite,  too;  your  breakfast  tasted  better,  especially  if 
some  other  ship  had  got  into  trouble  with  one  of  her  yards 

or  sails.     "  Did  you  see  what  a  mess  the made  of 

fore-topgallant-yard  this  morning?"  An  old  boatswain's 
mate  of  the  ship  used  to  tell  me  one  of  his  "last-cruise" 
stories,  of  when  he  "  was  in  the  Delaware,  seventy-four,  up 
the  Mediterranean,  in  1842."  Of  course,  the  Delaware  had 
beaten  the  Congress's  time;  the  last  ship  always  did.  Then 
he  would  add:  "I  was  in  the  foretop  in  those  days,  and 
had  the  fore-topgallant-yard;  and  if  one  of  us  fellows  let 
his  yard  show  on  either  side  of  the  mast  before  the  order 
'Sway  across,'  we  could  count  on  a  dozen  when  we  got 
down  just  as  sure  as  we  could  count  on  our  breakfast." 
Flogging  was  not  abolished  until  about  1849.  No  wonder 
men  were  jolly  when  they  could  be,  without  worrying  about 
to-morrow's  headache.  ^r 

Part  of  the  preparation  was  to  let  the  captain  know  be- 
forehand that  it  was  eight  o'clock,  and  get  his  authority 
that  it  might  be  so;  subject  always  to  the  yet  higher  au- 
thority that  the  yards  and  sails  were  ready.  If  they  were 
not,  so  much  the  worse  for  eight  o'clock.  It  had  to  wait 
quite  as  imperatively  as  the  sun  did  for  Joshua.  Sunset, 
when  the  masts  and  yards  came  down,  was  equally  under 
bonds;  it  awaited  the  pleasure  of  the  captain  or  admiral. 
Indeed,  in  my  time  a  story  ran  of  a  court-martial  at  a 
much  earlier  day,  sitting  in  a  capital  case.  By  law,  each 
day's  session  must  end  by  sundown.  On  the  occasion  in 
question,  sundown  was  reported  to  the  admiral — or,  rather, 
commodore;  we  had  no  admirals  then.     He  sent  to  know 

50 


THE    NAVAL   ACADEMY 

how  soon  the  court  could  finish.  The  reply  Avas,  in  about 
fifteen  minutes.  "Tell  the  officer  of  the  deck  not  to  make 
it  sundown  until  he  hears  from  me;"  and,  in  defiance  of  the 
earth's  movement,  the  colors  were  kept  flying  in  attestation 
that  the  sun  was  up.  One  other  hour  of  the  twenty-four, 
noon,  was  brought  in  like  manner  to  the  captain's  atten- 
tion, and  required  his  action,  but  it  was  treated  with  more 
deference;  recognition  rather  than  authority  was  meted  to 
it,  and  it  was  never  known  to  be  tampered  with.  The  cir- 
cumstance of  the  sun's  crossing  the  ship's  meridian  was 
unique  in  the  day;  and  the  observation  of  the  fact,  which 
drew  on  deck  all  the  navigating  group  with  their  instru- 
ments, establishing  the  latitude  immediately  and  precisely, 
was  of  itself  a  principal  institution  of  the  ship's  economy. 
Such  claims  were  not  open  to  trifling;  and  were  there  not 
also  certain  established  customs,  almost  vested  interests, 
such  as  the  seven-bell  nip,  cocktail  or  otherwise,  connected 
with  the  half-hour  before,  when  "  the  sun  was  over  the  fore- 
yard"?  I  admit  I  never  knew  whence  the  latter  phrase 
originated,  nor  just  what  it  meant,  but  it  has  associations. 
Like  sign  language,  it  can  be  understood. 

I  was  myself  shipmate,  as  they  say,  with  most  of 
this  sort  of  thing;  for  with  its  good  points  and  its  bad  it 
did  not  disappear  until  the  War  of  Secession,  the  exigencies 
of  which  drove  out  alike  the  sails  and  the  sailor.  The 
abolition  of  the  grog  ration  in  1862  may  be  looked  upon 
as  a  chronological  farewell  to  a  picturesque  past.  We  did 
not  so  understand  it.  Contemporaries  are  apt  to  be  blind 
to  bloodless  revolutions.  Had  we  seen  the  full  bearing, 
perhaps  there  might  have  been  observed  a  professional 
sundown,  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  topgallant- 
yards  had  come  down  for  the  last  time,  ending  one  pro- 
fessional era.  A  protest  was  recorded  by  one  eccentric 
character,  a  survival  whom  Cooper  unfortunately  never 
knew,  who  hoisted  a  whiskey  demijohn  at  the  peak  of  his 

51 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

gun-boat — the  ensign's  allotted  place.  To  the  admiral's 
immediate  demand  for  an  explanation,  he  replied  that  that 
was  the  flag  he  served  under;  but  he  was  one  of  those  to 
whom  all  things  are  forgiven.  The  seaman  remains,  and 
must  always  remain  while  there  are  seas  to  cross  and  to 
rule;  but  the  sailor,  in  his  accomplishments  and  in  his  de- 
fects, began  then  to  depart,  or  to  be  evolutionized  into 
something  entirely  different.  I  amjDOund  to  admit  that 
in  the  main  the  better  has  survived,  but,  now  that  such 
hairs  as  I  have  are  gray,  I  may  be  permitted  to  look  back 
somewhat  wistfully  and  affectionately  on  that  which  I  re- 
member a  half-century  ago;  perhaps  to  sympathize  with 
the  seamen  of  the  period,  who  saw  themselves  swamped 
out  of  sight  and  influence  among  the  vast  numbers  re- 
quired by  the  sudden  seven  or  eight  fold  expansion  of  the 
navy  for  that  momentous  conflict.  Occasionally  one  of 
these  old  salts,  mournful  amid  his  new  environment,  would 
meet  me,  and  say,  "Ah!  Mr.  Mahan,  the  navy  isn't  what  it 
was!"  True,  in  1823,  Lord  St.  Vincent,  then  verging  on 
ninety,  had  made  the  same  remark  to  George  IV.;  and  I 
am  quite  sure,  if  the  aged  admiral  had  searched  his  mem- 
ory, he  could  have  recalled  it  in  the  mouth  of  some  veteran 
of  1750.  The  worst  of  it  is,  this  is  perennially  true.  From 
period  to  period  the  gain  exceeds,  but  still  there  has  been 
loss  as  well;  and  to  sentiment,  ranging  over  the  past,  the 
loss  stands  more  conspicuous.  "Memory  reveals  every 
rose,  but  secreteth  its  thorn." 

This  is  the  more  apparent  when  the  change  has  been 
sudden,  or  on  such  a  scale  as  to  overwhelm,  by  mere  bulk, 
that  subtle  influence  for  which  we  owe  to  the  French  the 
name  of  esprit  de  corps.  It  is  the  breath  of  the  body,  the 
breath  of  life.  Before  the  War  of  Secession  om-  old  friends 
the  marines  had  a  deserved  reputation  for  fidelity,  which 
could  not  survive  the  big  introduction  of  alien  matter  into 
the  "corps."     I  remember  hearing  an  officer  of  long  ser- 

52 


THE   NAVAL   ACADEMY 

vice  say  that  he  had  known  but  a  single  instance  of  a 
marine  deserting;  and  as  to  the  general  fact  there  was  no 
dissent  among  the  by-standers.  The  same  could  scarcely 
be  said  now,  nor  of  seamen  then.  The  sentiment  of  par- 
ticular faithfulness  had  been  nurtured  in  the  British  marines 
under  times  and  conditions  which  made  them  at  a  critical 
moment  the  saviors  of  discipline,  and  thereby  the  saviors 
of  the  state.  It  is  needless  to  philosophize  the  strength 
of  such  a  tradition,  so  established,  nor  its  effect  on  each 
member  of  the  body;  and  from  thence,  not  improbably,  it 
was  transmitted  to  our  younger  navy.  Whencever  com- 
ing, there  it  was.  One  marine  private,  in  the  ship  to 
which  I  belonged,  returning  from  liberty  on  shore,  was 
heard  saying  to  another  with  drunken  impressiveness, 
"Remember,  our  motto  is,  'Patriotism  and  laziness.'"  Of 
course,  this  went  round  the  ship,  greatly  delighting  on  both 
counts  our  marine  officers,  and  became  embodied  in  the 
chaff  that  passed  to  and  fro  between  the  two  corps;  of 
which  one  saying,  "  The  two  most  useless  things  in  a  ship 
were  the  captain  of  marines  and  the  mizzen-royal,"  de- 
serves for  its  drollery  to  be  committed  to  writing,  now  that 
mizzen-royals  have  ceased  to  be.  May  it  be  long  before 
the  like  extinction  awaits  the  captains  of  marines!  Our 
own,  however,  an  eccentric  man,  who  had  accomplished 
the  then  rare  feat  of  working  his  way  up  from  the  ranks, 
used  to  claim  that  marines  were  an  absurdity.  "It  is 
having  one  army  to  keep  another  army  in  order,"  he  would 
say.  This  was  once  true,  and  might  with  equal  truth  be 
said  of  a  city  pohce  force — one  set  of  citizens  to  keep  the 
other  citizens  orderly.  In  the  olden  time  it  had  been  the 
application  of  the  sound  statesmanship  dogma,  ''Divide 
et  impera."  For  this,  in  the  navy,  happily,  the  need  no 
longer  exists;  but  I  can  see  no  reason  to  beheve  the  time 
at  hand  when  we  can  dispense  with  a  corps  of  seamen,  the 
specialty  of  which  is  infantrv — and  shore  expedition  when 

53 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

necessary.  Patriotism,  as  our  marine  understood  it,  was 
sticking  by  your  colors  and  your  corps,  and  doing  your 
duty  through  thick  and  thin;  no  bad  ideal. 

In  like  mingling  of  good  and  evil,  the  oldsters  at  the 
Naval  Academy,  along  with  some  things  objectionable,  in- 
cluding a  liberty  that  under  the  conditions  too  often  re- 
sembled license,  brought  with  them  sound  traditions, 
which  throughout  my  stay  there  constituted  a  real  esprit 
de  corps.  In  nothing  was  this  more  conspicuous  than  in 
the  attitude  towards  hazing.  Owing  to  circumstances  I 
will  mention  later,  I  entered  at  once  the  class  which,  as  I 
understand,  most  usually  perpetrated  the  outrageous  prac- 
tices that  became  a  scandal  in  the  country— the  class,  th5,t 
is,  which  is  entering  on  its  second  year  at  the  Academy. 
My  home  having  always  been  at  the  Military  Academy, 
I,  without  much  thinking,  expected  to  find  rife  the  same 
proceedings  which  had  prevailed  there  from  time  to  me 
immemorial.  Such  anticipations  made  deeper  and  more 
lasting  the  impression  produced  by  the  contrary  state  of 
things,  and  yet  more  by  the  wholly  different  tone  prevalent 
at  AnnapoHs.  Not  only  was  hazing  not  practised,  but  it 
scarcely  obtained  even  the  recognition  of  mention;  it  was 
not  so  much  reprobated  as  ignored;  and,  if  it  came  mider 
discussion  at  all,  it  was  dismissed  with  a  turn  of  the  nose, 
as  something  altogether  beneath  us.  That  is  not  the  sort 
of  thing  we  do  here.  It  may  be  all  very  well  at  West 
Point— much  as  "  what  would  do  for  a  marine  could  not  be 
thought  of  for  a  seaman"— but  we  were  "officers  and  gen- 
tlemen," and  thought  no  small  beans  of  ourselves  as  such. 
There  were  at  times  absurd  manifestations  of  this  same  pre- 
cocious dignity,  of  which  I  may  speak  later;  still,  as  O'Brien 
said  of  Boatswain  Chucks,  "You  may  laugh  at  such  as- 
sumptions of  gentility,  but  did  any  one  of  his  shipmates 
ever  know  Mr.  Chucks  to  do  an  unhandsome  or  a  mean 
action? — and  why?   Because  he  aspired  to  be  a  gentleman." 

54 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

While  I  can  vouch  for  this  general  state  of  feeling,  I  can- 
not be  sure  of  its  derivation;  but  I  have  always  thought  it 
due  to  the  presence  during  the  previous  five  years  of  the 
"oldsters,"  nominally  under  the  same  discipline  as  our- 
selves, but  looked  up  to  with  the  respect  and  observance 
which  at  that  age  are  naturally  given  to  those  two  or  three 
seasons  older.  And  these  men  w^ere  not  merely  more  ad- 
vanced in  years.  They  were  matured  beyond  their  age 
by  early  habits  of  responsibility  and  command,  and  them- 
selves imbued  by  constant  contact  with  the  spirit  of  the 
phrase  "an  officer  and  a  gentleman,"  which  constitutes  the 
norm  of  military  conduct.  Their  intercourse  with  their 
seniors  on  board  ship  had  been  much  closer  than  that  which 
was  possible  at  the  school.  This  atmosphere  they  brought 
with  them  to  a  position  from  which  they  could  not  but 
most  powerfully  influence  us.  How  far  the  tradition  might 
have  been  carried  on,  in  smooth  seas,  I  do  not  know; 
but  along  with  many  other  things,  good  and  bad,  it  was 
shattered  by  the  War  of  Secession.  The  school  was  precip- 
itately removed  to  Newport,  where  it  was  established  in 
extemporized  and  temporary  surroundings;  the  older  un- 
dergraduates were  hurried  to  sea,  while  the  new  entries  were 
huddled  together  on  two  sailing  frigates  moored  in  the 
harbor,  dissociated  from  the  influence  of  those  above  them. 
The  whole  anatomy  and,  so  to  say,  nervous  system  of  the 
organization  were  dislocated.  For  better  or  for  worse, 
perhaps  for  better  and  for  worse,  the  change  was  more  like 
death  and  resurrection  than  life  and  growth.  The  potent 
element  which  the  oldster  had  contributed,  and  the  upper 
classes  absorbed  and  perpetuated,  was  eliminated  at  once 
and  entirely  by  the  detachment  of  the  senior  cadets  and 
the  segregation  of  the  new-comers.  New  ideals  were 
evolved  by  a  mass  of  school-boys,  severed  from  those 
elder  associates  with  the  influence  of  whom  no  professors 
nor  officers  can  vie.    How  hazing  came  up  I  do  not  know, 

55 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

and  am  not  writing  its  history.  I  presume  it  is  one  of  the 
inevitable  weeds  that  school-boy  nature  brings  forth  of 
itself,  unless  checked  by  unfavorable  environment.  I  mere- 
ly note  its  almost  total  absence  in  my  time;  its  subsequent 
existence  was  unhappily  notorious. 

A  general  good-humored  tolerance,  easy-going,  and  de- 
pending upon  a  mutual  understanding,  none  the  less  clear 
because  informal,  characterized  the  relations  of  the  officers 
and  students.  Primarily,  each  were  in  the  appreciation 
of  the  other  officers  and  gentlemen.  So  far  there  was  im- 
plicit equality;  and  while  the  ones  were  in  duty  bound  to 
enforce  academic  regulations,  which  the  others  felt  an  equal 
obligation  to  disregard,  it  was  a  kind  of  game  in  whicli  they 
did  not  much  mind  being  losers,  provided  we  did  not  tres- 
pass on  the  standards  of  the  gentleman,  and  of  the  officer 
liberally  construed.  They,  I  think,  had  an  unacknowledged 
feeling  that  while  under  school-boy,  or  collegiate,  discipline 
as  to  times  or  manners,  some  relaxation  of  strict  official 
correctness  must  be  endured.  Larking,  sometimes  up- 
roarious, met  with  personal  sympathy,  if  official  condem- 
nation. Nor  did  we  resent  being  detected  by  what  we 
regarded  as  fair  means ;  to  which  we  perhaps  gave  a  pretty 
wide  interpretation.  The  exceptional  man,  who  inspected 
at  unaccustomed  hours,  which  we  considered  our  own  pre- 
scriptive right — though  not  by  rules — ^who  came  upon  us 
unawares,  was  apt  to  be  credited  with  rather  unofficer-like 
ideas  of  what  was  becoming,  and  suspected  of  the  not 
very  gentlemanly  practice  of  wearing  noiseless  rubber  shoes. 
That  intimation  of  his  approach  was  conveyed  by  us  from 
room  to  room  by  concerted  taps  on  the  gas-pipes  w^as  fair 
war;  nor  did  our  opponents  seem  to  mind  what  they  could 
not  but  clearly  hear.  Indeed,  I  think  most  of  them  were 
rather  glad  to  find  evidences  of  order  and  propriety  pre- 
vailing, where  possibly  but  for  those  kindly  signals  they 
might  have  detected  matter  for  report. 

56    . 


THE   NAVAL    ACADEMY 

There  was  one  lieutenant,  however,  the  memory  of  whom 
was  still  green  as  a  bay-tree  in  my  day,  though  it  would 
have  been  blasted  indeed  could  cursing  have  blighted  it, 
to  whom  the  game  of  detective  seemed  to  possess  the  fas- 
cination of  the  chase;  and  so  successful  was  he  that  his 
baffled  opponents  could  not  view  the  matter  dispassionate- 
ly, nor  accept  their  defeat  in  sportsman-like  spirit.  I  knew 
him  later;  he  had  a  saturnine  appearance,  not  calculated 
to  conciliate  a  victim,  but  he  liked  a  joke,  especially  of  the 
practical  kind,  and  for  the  sake  of  one  successfully  achieved 
could  forgive  an  offender.  Night  surprises,  inroads  on  the 
enemy's  country,  at  the  hours  when  we  were  mistakenly 
supposed  to  be  safe  in  bed,  and  regulations  so  requii'ed,  were 
favorite  stratagems  with  him.  On  one  occasion,  so  tradi- 
tion ran,  some  half-dozen  midshipmen  had  congregated  in 
a  room  "  after  taps,"  and,  with  windows  carefully  darkened, 
had  contrived  an  extempore  kitchen  to  fry  themselves  a 
mess  of  oysters.  The  process  was  slow,  owing  to  the  num- 
ber of  oysters  the  pan  could  take  at  once  and  the  large- 
ness of  the  expectant  appetites;  but  it  had  progressed 
nearly  to  completion,  when  without  premonition  the  door 

opened  and appeared.     He  asked  no  questions  and 

offered  no  comments,  but,  walking  to  the  platter,  seized  it 
and  threw  out  of  the  window  the  accumulated  results  of 
an  hour's  weary  work.  No  further  notice  of  the  delin- 
quency followed;  the  discomfiture  of  the  sufferers  suffi- 
ciently repaid  his  sense  of  humor.  At  another  midnight 
hour  a  midshipman  visiting  in  a  room  not  his,  lured  thither, 
let  us  hope,  by  the  charms  of  intellectual  conversation,  was 
warned  by  the  gas-pipes  that  the  enemy  was  on  the  war- 
path.   Retreat  being  cut  off,  he  took  refuge  under  a  bed, 

but  unwittingly  left  a  hand  visible.      caught  sight 

of  it,  walked  to  the  bed,  flashed  his  lantern  in  the  eyes  of 
its  occupant,  who  naturally  was  sleeping  as  never  before, 
and  at  the  same  time  trod  hard  on  the  exposed  fingers.     A 

57 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEA:\I 

squeal  followed  this  unexpected  attention,  and  the  culjjrit 
had  to  drag  himself  out;  but  the  lieutenant  was  satisfied, 
and  let  him  go  at  that. 

I  have  said  that  larking  met  with  more  than  toleration 
—with  sympathy.  The  once  magic  word  "midshipman" 
seemed  to  cloak  any  outburst  of  frolicking;  otherwise  some 
exhibitions  I  witnessed  could  scarcely  have  passed  un- 
scathed. They  were  felt  to  be  in  character  by  the  older 
officers;  and,  while  obliged  to  reprehend,  I  doubt  whether 
some  of  them  would  not  have  more  enjoyed  taking  a  share. 
They  knew,  too,  that  we  were  just  as  proud  as  they  of  the 
service,  and  that  under  all  lay  an  entire  readiness  to  do  or 
to  submit  to  that  which  we  and  they  alike  recognized  as 
duty.  Sometimes  rioting  went  rather  too  far,  but  for  the 
most  part  it  was  harmless.  One  rather  grave  incident, 
shortly  before  my  entry,  derived  its  humor  mainly  from  the 
way  in  which  it  was  treated  by  the  superintendent.  One 
of  the  out-buildings  of  the  Academy,  either  because  offen- 
sive or  out  of  sheer  deviltry,  was  set  on  fire  and  destroyed. 
The  perpetrator  of  this  startling  practical  joke  was  Alex- 
ander F.  Crosman,  of  the  '51  Date,  whom  many  of  us  yet 
living  remember  well.  Small  in  stature,  with  something 
of  the  "chip-on-the-shoulder"  characteristic,  often  seen  in 
such,  he  was  conspicuous  for  a  certain  chivalrous  gallantry 
of  thought  and  mien,  the  reflection  of  a  native  brilliant 
courage;  a  trait  wdiich  in  the  end  caused  his  death,  about 
1870,  by  drowning,  in  the  effort  to  save  an  imperilled  boat's 
cvew.  The  superintendent,  a  man  of  ponderous  dmien- 
sions,  and  equally  ponderous  but  rapid  speech— though  it 
is  due  to  say  also  unusually  accomplished,  both  profession- 
ally and  personally— was  greatly  outraged  and  excited  at 
this  defiance  of  discipline.  The  day  following  he  went  out 
to  meet  the  corps,  when  it  had  just  left  some  formation, 
and,  calling  a  halt,  delivered  a  speech  on  the  basis  of  the 
Articles  of  War,  a  copy  of  which  he  brandished  before  his 

58 


THE   XAA'AL   ACADEMY 

audience.  These  ancient  ordinances,  among  many  other 
denimciations  of  naval  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  pro- 
nounced the  punishment  of  death,  or  "such  other  worse" 
as  a  court-martial  might  adjudge,  upon  "any  person  in 
the  Navy  who  shall  maliciously  set  on  fire,  or  otherwise 
destroy,  any  government  property  not  then  in  the  pos- 
session of  an  enemy,  pirate,  or  rebel"  The  gem  of  oratory 
hereupon  erected  was  paraphrased  as  follows  by  the  cul- 
prit himself,  aided  and  abetted  in  his  lyrical  flight  by  his 
room-mate,  John  S.  Barnes,  who,  after  graduating  left  the 
service,  returned  for  the  War  of  Secession,  and  subse- 
cjuently  resigned  finally.  To  this  survivor  of  the  two  col- 
laborators I  owe  the  particulars  of  the  affair.  How  many 
more  "traitors"  there  were  I  know  not.  Those  who  recall 
the  speaker  will  recognize  that  the  parody  must  have  fol- 
lowed closely  the  real  words  of  the  address : 


"Young  gentlemen  assembled! — 
It  makes  no  matter  where — 
I  only  want  to  speak  to  you, 
So  hear  me  where  you  are. 

"Some  vile  incendiary 

Last  night  was  prowling  round, 
Who  set  fire  to  our  round-house 
And  burned  it  to  the  ground. 

"  I'll  read  the  Naval  Law; 

The  man  who  dares  to  burn 
A  round-house, — not  the  Enemy 's,- 
A  traitor's  fate  shall  learn. 

"  And  if  a  man  there  be, 

Who  does  this  traitor  know, 
And  keeps  it  to  himself. 
He  shall  suffer  death  also! 
59 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

'"Tis  well,  then,  to  tell,  then, 
Who  did  this  grievous  ill; 
And,   d — n  him,  I  will  hang  him, 
So  help  me  God!  I  will!" 


If  anything  could  have  added  to  the  gayety  of  the  fire, 
such  an  outburst  would. 

In  after  years  I  sailed  under  the  command  of  this  speech- 
maker.  At  monthly  musters  he  reserved  to  himself  the 
prerogative  of  reading  the  Articles,  probably  thinking  that 
he  did  it  more  effectively  than  the  first  Heutenant;  in 
which  he  was  quite  right.  It  so  happened  that,  owing  to 
doubt  whether  a  certain  paragraph  applied  to  the  Marine 
Corps,  Congress  had  been  pleased  to  make  a  special  enact- 
ment that  the  word  "persons"  in  such  and  such  a  clause 
"should  be  construed  to  include  marines."  Coming  as 
this  did  near  the  end,  some  humorist  was  moved  to  remark 
that  the  first  Sunday  in  the  month  muster  was  for  the  pur- 
pose of  informing  us  authoritatively  that  a  marine  was  a 
person.  As  the  captain  read  this  interesting  announce- 
ment, liis  voice  assumed  a  gradual  crescendo,  concluding 
with  a  profound  emphasis  on  the  word  "marines,"  which 
he  accompanied  with  a  half  turn  and  a  flourish  of  the^book 
towards  that  honorable  body,  drawn  up  in  full  uniform,  at 
parade  rest,  its  venerable  captain,  whose  sandy  hair  was 
fast  streaking  with  gray,  standing  at  its  head,  his  hands 
meekly  crossed  over  his  sword-hilt,  the  blade  hanging  down 
before  him ;  all  doubtless  suitably  impressed  with  this  defi- 
nition of  their  status,  which  for  greater  certainty  they 
heard  every  month.  It  was  very  fine,  very  fine  indeed; 
appealing  to  more  senses  than  one. 

The  shore  drills — infantry  and  field  artillery — furnished 
special  occasions  for  organized — or  disorganized — upheavals 
of  animal  spirits.  For  these  exercises  we  then  had  scant 
respect.    They  were  "soldiering;"  and  from  time  imme- 

60 


THE   NAVAL  ACADEMY 

niorial  soldier  had  been  an  adjective  to  exi)ress  uselessness, 
or  that  which  was  so  easy  as  to  pass  no  man's  ability.  A 
soldier's  wind,  for  example,  was  a  wind  fair  both  ways — to 
go  and  to  retm-n;  no  demands  on  brains  there,  much  less 
on  seamanship.  The  curious  irrelevancy  of  such  applica- 
tions never  strikes  persons;  unless,  indeed,  a  perception  of 
incongruity  is  the  soul  of  wit,  a  definition  which  I  think  I 
have  heard.  To  depart  without  the  ceremony  of  saying 
good-bye  takes  its  name  from  the  most  elaborately  civil 
of  people — French  leave;  while  the  least  perturbable  of 
nations  has  been  made  to  contribute  an  epithet,  Dutch,  to 
the  courage  derived  from  the  whiskey-bottle.  In  the  lat- 
ter case,  however,  I  fancy  that,  besides  the  tradition  of 
long-ago  national  rivalries,  there  may  have  been  the  idea 
that  to  excite  a  Dutchman  you  must,  as  they  say,  light  a 
fire  mider  him ;  or  as  was  forcibly  remarked  by  a  midship- 
man of  my  time  of  his  phlegmatic  room-mate,  he  had  to 
kick  him  in  the  morning  to  get  him  started  for  the  day. 

To  return  to  the  shore  drills :  these  were  then  committed 
to  one  of  the  civil  professors  of  the  Academy,  a  fact  which 
itself  spoke  for  the  familiarity  with  them  of  the  sea  lieu- 
tenants. As  these  always  exercised  us  at  ships'  guns,  the 
different  estimation  which  the  two  obtained  in  the  out- 
side service  was  too  obvious  to  escape  quick-witted  yomig 
fellows,  and  it  was  difficult  to  overcome  the  resultant  dis- 
respect. The  professor  was  not  one  to  effect  the  impos- 
sible. He  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  a  man  of  ability, 
not  lacking  in  dignity,  and  personally  worthy  of  all  re- 
spect; but  he  stuttered  badly,  and  this  impediment  not 
only  received  no  mercy  from  youth,  but  interfered  with  the 
accuracy  of  manoeuvres  where  the  word  of  command  need- 
ed to  be  timely  in  utterance.  Report  ran  that  on  one 
occasion,  advancing  by  column  of  companies,  while  the 
professor  was  struggling  with  "  H-H-H-Halt !"  the  lead- 
ing company,  composed  martyrs  to  discipline,  marched 
5  01 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAJM 

over  the  sea-wall  into  three  feet  of  water.  Had  the  water 
been  deeper,  they  might  have  been  less  literal.  Despite 
his  military  training,  his  bearing  and  carriage  had  not  the 
strong  soldierly  stamp  which  might  redeem  his  infirmity, 
and  even  in  the  class-room  a  certain  whimsical  atmosphere 
seemed  borne  from  the  drill-ground.  He,  I  believe,  was  the 
central  figure  of  one  of  the  most  humorous  scenes  in  Her- 
man Melville's  White  Jacket,  a  book  which,  despite  its 
prejudiced  tone,  has  preserved  many  amusing  and  inter- 
esting inside  recollections  of  a  ship-of-war  of  the  olden  time. 
The  naval  instructor  on  board  the  frigate  is  using  Rodney's 
battle  of  1782  to  illustrate  on  the  blackboard  the  princi- 
ples of  naval  tactics  to  the  class  of  midshipmen.  "Now, 
young  gentlemen,  you  see  this  disabled  French  ship  in  the 
corner,  far  to  windward  of  her  fleet,  between  it  and  the 
enemy.  She  has  lost  all  three  masts,  and  the  greater  part 
of  the  ship's  company  are  killed  and  wounded;  what  will 
yoU'  do  to  save  her  ?"  To  this  knotty  problem  many  extem- 
porized "practical"  answers  are  given,  of  which  the  most 
plausible  is  by  Mr.  Dash,  of  Virginia — "I  should  nail  my 
colors  to  the  mast  and  let  her  sink  under  me."  As  this 
could  scarcely  be  called  saving  her,  Mr.  Dash  is  rebuked 
for  irrelevance;  but,  after  the  gamut  of  possible  solutions 
has  been  well  guessed  over,  the  instructor  announces 
impressively,  "That  ship,  young  gentlemen,  cannot  be 
saved." 

I  cannot  say  that  he  dealt  with  us  thus  tantalizingly; 
but  one  of  my  contemporaries  used  to  tell  a  story  of  his 
personal  experience  which  was  generically  allied  to  the 
above.  At  the  conclusion  of  some  faulty  manceuvi'e,  the 
instructor  remarked  aloud:  "This  all  went  wrong,  owdng 
to  Mr.  P.'s  not  standing  fast  in  his  own  person.  We 
will  now  repeat  it,  for  the  particular  benefit  of  Mr.  P." 
The  repetition  ensued,  and  in  its  course  the  instructor 
called  out,  "Be  careful,  Mr.  P.,  and  stand  fast  where 

62 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

you  are."  "I  am  standing  fast,"  replied  P.,  incautiously. 
"R-R-Report  Mr.  P.  for  talking  in  ranks."  At  the  Acad- 
emy, naval  tactics  were  not  within  his  purview;  and  of  all 
our  experiences  with  him  in  the  class-room,  one  ludicrous  in- 
cident alone  remains  with  me.  One  of  my  class,  though  in 
most  ways  well  at  head,  was  a  little  alarmed  about  his 
standing  in  infantry  tactics.  He  therefore  at  a  critical 
occasion  attempted  to  carry  the  text-book  with  him  to  the 
blackboard.  This  surreptitious  deed,  being  not  to  get  ad- 
vantage over  a  fellow,  but  to  save  himself,  was  condoned 
by  public  opinion;  but,  being  unused  to  such  deceits,  in 
his  agitation  he  copied  his  figure  upside  down  and  became 
hopelessly  involved  in  the  demonstration.  The  professor 
next  day  took  occasion  to  comment  slightingly  on  our 

general  performance,  but  "as  to  Mr.  ,"  he  added, 

derisively,  "he  did  r-r-r-wretchedly." 

I  sometimes  wonder  that  we  learned  anything  about 
"soldiering,"  but  we  did  in  a  way.  The  principles  and 
theory  were  mastered,  if  performance  was  slovenly;  and  in 
execution,  as  company  officers,  we  got  our  companies 
"there,"  although  just  how  w^e  did  it  might  be  open  to 
criticism.  In  our  last  year  the  adjutant  in  my  class,  who 
graduated  at  its  head,  on  the  first  occasion  of  forming  the 
battalion,  after  some  moments  of  visible  embarrassment 
could  think  of  no  order  more  appropriate  than  "  Form  your 
companies  fore  and  aft  the  pavement."  Fore  and  aft  is 
"lengthwise"  of  a  ship.  No  hiuniliation  attended  such  a 
confession  of  ignorance — on  that  subject;  but  had  the  same 
man  "missed  stays"  when  in  charge  of  the  deck,  he  would 
have  been  sorely  mortified.  His  successor  of  to-day  prob- 
ably never  will  have  a  chance  to  miss  stays.  There  thus 
ran  through  our  drills  an  undercurrent  of  levity,  which  on 
provocation  would  burst  out  almost  spontaneously  into  ab- 
surdity. On  one  occasion  the  battalion  was  drawn  up  in 
line,  fronting  at  some  distance  the  five  buildings  which  then 

63 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

constituted  the  midshipmen's  quarters.  The  intimation 
was  given  that  we  were  to  advance  and  then  charge.  Once 
put  in  motion,  I  know  not  whether  stuttering  lost  the  op- 
portunity of  stopping  us,  but  the  pace  became  quicker  and 
quicker  till  the  whole  body  broke  into  a  run,  rushed  cheer- 
ing tumultuously  through  the  passages  between  the  houses, 
and  reformed,  peaceably  enough,  on  the  other  side.  The 
captains  all  got  a  wigging  for  failing  to  keep  us  in  hand; 
but  they  were  powerless.  The  whole  thing  was  without 
preconcertment  or  warning.  It  could  hardly  have  hap- 
pened, however,  had  the  instinct  of  discipline  been  as 
strong  in  these  drills  as  in  others. 

A  more  deliberate  prank  was  played  with  the  field  ar- 
tillery. These  light  pieces,  being  of  the  nature  of  cannon 
rather  than  muskets,  obtained  more  deference,  being  rec- 
ognized as  of  the  same  genus  with  the  great  guns  which 
then  constituted  a  ship's  broadside.  On  one  occasion 
they  were  incautiously  left  out  overnight  on  the  drill- 
ground.  Between  tattoo  and  taps,  9.30  to  10  p.  m.,  was 
always  a  half-hour  of  release  from  quarters.  There  was 
mischief  ready-made  for  idle  hands  to  do.  The  guns  were 
taken  in  possession,  rushed  violently  to  and  fro  in  mock 
drill  performance,  and  finally  taken  to  pieces,  the  parts 
being  scattered  promiscuously  in  all  directions.  Dawn 
revealed  an  appearance  of  havoc  resembling  a  popular  im- 
pressionist representation  of  a  battle-field.  Here  a  caisson 
with  its  boxes,  severed  from  their  belongings,  stretched  its 
long  pole  appealingly  towards  heaven ;  the  wheels  had  been 
dispersed  to  distant  qu  rters  of  the  ground  and  lay  on 
their  sides;  elsewhere  were  the  guns,  sometimes  reversed 
and  solitary,  at  others  not  wholly  dismounted,  canted  at 
an  angle,  with  one  wheel  in  place.  As  there  were  six  of 
them,  complete  in  equipments,  the  scene  was  extensive 
and  of  most  admired  confusion;  ingenuity  had  exhausted 
itself  in  variety,  to  enhance  picturesqueness  of  effect.  How 

64 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

the  lieutenant  in  charge  accounted  for  all  this  happening 
without  his  interference,  I  do  not  know.  Certainly  there 
was  noise  enough,  but  then  that  half-hour  always  was 
noisy.  The  superintendent  of  that  time  had,  when  walk- 
ing, a  trick  of  grasping  the  lapel  of  his  coat  with  his  right 
hand,  and  twitching  it  when  preoccupied.  The  following 
day,  as  he  surveyed  conditions,  it  seemed  as  if  the  lapel 
might  come  away;  but  he  made  us  no  speech,  nor,  as  far 
as  I  know,  was  any  notice  taken  of  the  affair.  No  real 
damage  had  been  done,  and  the  man  would  indeed  have 
been  hard-heartedly  conscientious  who  would  grudge  the 
action  which  showed  him  so  comical  a  sight. 

I  once  heard  an  excellent  first  lieutenant — Farragut's 
own  through  the  principal  actions  of  the  War  of  Secession 
— say  that  where  there  was  obvious  inattention  to  uniform 
there  would  always  be  found  slackness  in  discipline.  It 
may  be,  therefore,  that  our  habits  as  to  uniform  were  symp- 
tomatic of  the  same  easy  tolerance  which  bore  with  such 
extravagances  as  I  have  mentioned;  the  like  of  which,  in 
overt  act,  was  not  known  to  me  in  my  later  association 
with  the  Academy  as  an  officer.  We  had  a  prescribed 
uniform,  certainly;  but  regulations,  like  legislative  acts, 
admit  of  much  variety  of  interpretation  and  latitude  in 
practice,  unless  there  is  behind  them  a  strong  public  senti- 
ment. In  my  earlier  days  there  was  no  public  sentiment 
of  the  somewhat  martinet  kind;  such  as  would  compel  all 
alike  to  wear  an  overcoat  because  the  captain  felt  cold. 
In  practice,  there  was  great  laxity  in  details.  I  remember, 
in  later  days  and  later  manners,  when  we  were  all  com- 
pelled to  be  well  buttoned  up  to  the  throat,  a  young  officer 
remarked  to  me  disparagingly  of  another,  ''He's  the  sort 
of  man,  you  know,  w^io  would  w^ear  a  frock-coat  un- 
buttoned." There's  nothing  like  classification.  My  friend 
had  achieved  a  feat  in  natural  history;  in  ten  words  he 
had  defined  a  species.    On  another  occasion  the  same  man 

65 


FROIVI    SAIL    TO    STEM! 

remorselessly  wiped  out  of  existence  another  species,  con- 
secrated by  generations  of  blue-books  and  Naval  Regula- 
tions. "1  know  nothing  of  superior  officers,"  he  said; 
"senior  officers,  if  you  choose;  but  superior,  no!"  Whether 
the  Naval  Regulations  have  yet  recognized  this  obvious 
distinction,  whether  it  is  no  longer  "superior  officers,"  but 
only  senior  officers,  who  are  not  to  be  "  treated  with  con- 
tempt/' etc.,  I  have  not  inquired.  Apart  from  such  amus- 
ing criticism  of  the  times  past,  it  is  undoubtedlytrue  that 
attention  to  minutiae  is  symptomatic  of  a  much  more  im- 
portant underlying  spirit,  one  of  exactness  and  precision 
running  through  all  the  management  of  a  ship  and  affect- 
ing her  efficiency.  I  concede  that  a  thing  so  trifling  as  the 
buttoning  of  a  frock-coat  may  indicate  a  development  and 
survival  of  the  fittest;  but  in  1855-60  frock-coats  had 
not  been  disciplined,  and  in  accordance  with  the  tone  of  the 
general  service  we  midshipmen  were  tacitly  indulged  in  a 
similar  freedom.  This  tolerance  may  have  been  in  part  a 
reaction  from  the  vexatious  and  absurd  interference  of  a 
decade  before  with  such  natural  rights  as  the  cut  of  the 
beard — not  as  matter  of  neatness,  but  of  pattern.  Even  for 
some  time  after  I  graduated,  unless  I  misunderstood  my 
informants,  officers  in  the  British  na\  y  were  not  permitted 
to  wear  a  full  beard,  nor  a  mustache;  and  we  had  out- 
breaks of  similar  regulative  annoyance  in  our  own  service, 
one  of  which  furnished  Melville  with  a  striking  chapter. 
Discussing  the  matter  in  my  presence  once,  the  captain 
of  a  frigate  said,  "There  is  one  reply  to  objectors;  if  they 
do  not  wish  to  conform,  they  can  leave  the  service."  Clear- 
ly, however,  a  middle-aged  man  cannot  throw  up  his  pro- 
fession thus  easily. 

Another  circumstance  that  may  have  contributed  to  in- 
difference to  details  of  dress  was  the  carefulness  with  which 
the  old-time  sea  officers  had  constantly  to  look  after  the  set' 
and  trim  of  the  canvas.    Every  variation  of  the  wind,  every 

66 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

change  of  course,  every  considerable  niana>iivre,  involved 
corresponding  changes  in  the  disposition  of  the  sails,  which 
must  be  effected  not  only  correctly,  but  with  a  minute  exact- 
ness extending  to  half  a  hundred  seemingly  trivial  details, 
u])on  precision  in  which  depended — and  justly — an  officer's 
general  reputation  for  officer-like  character.  Not  only  so, 
l)ut  the  mere  weight  of  rigging  and  sails,  and  the  stretch- 
ing resultant  on  such  strain,  caused  recurring  derange- 
ments, which,  permitted,  became  slovenliness.  Yards  ac- 
curately braced,  sheets  home  alike,  weather  leaches  and 
braces  taut,  with  all  the  other  and  sundry  indications 
which  a  well-trained  eye  instinctively  sought  and  noted, 
were  less  the  dandyism  than  the  self-respecting  neatness 
of  a  well-dressed  ship,  and  were  no  bad  substitute,  as 
tests,  for  buttoned  frock-coats.  The  man  without  fault  in 
the  one  might  well  be  pardoned,  by  others  as  well  as 
himself,  for  neglects  which  had  never  occurred  to  him  to 
be  such.  His  attention  M'^as  centred  elsewhere,  as  a  man 
may  think  more  of  his  wife's  dress  than  his  own.  After  all, 
one  cannot  be  always  stretched  with  four  pins,  as  the 
French  say;   there  must  be  some  give  somewhere. 

The  frock  was  then  the  working  coat  of  the  navy. 
There  was  fuller  dress  for  exceptional  occasions,  in  which, 
at  one  festive  muster  early  in  the  cruise,  we  all  had  to  ap- 
pear, to  show  that  we  had  it;  but  otherwise  it  was  generally 
done  up  in  camphor.  The  jacket,  which  was  prescribed 
to  the  midshipmen  of  the  Academy,  had  informal  recogni- 
tion in  the  service,  and  we  took  our  surviving  garments  of 
that  order  with  us  to  sea,  to  wear  them  out.  But,  while 
here  and  there  some  officer  would  sport  one,  they  could 
scarcely  be  called  popular.  One  of  our  lieutenants,  indeed, 
took  a  somewhat  sentimental  view  of  the  jacket.  "There 
was  Mr.  S.,"  he  said  to  me,  speaking  of  a  brother  mid- 
shipman, "on  deck  yesterday  with  a  jacket.  It  looked  so 
tidy  and  becoming.     If   there  had   been   anything  aloft 

67 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

out  of  the  way,  1  could  say  to  him,  'Mr.  S.,  just  jump 
up  there,  will  you,  and  see  what  is  the  matter?'"  War, 
which  soon  afterwards  followed  with  its  stern  preoccupa- 
tions and  incidental  deprivations,  induced  inevitably  de- 
terioration in  matters  of  dress.  With  it  the  sack-coat,  or 
pilot-jacket,  burrowed  its  way  in,  the  cut  and  insignia  of 
these  showing  many  variations.  The  undergraduates  at  the 
Academy  in  my  day  had  for  all  uses  a  double-breasted  jack- 
et; but  it  was  worn  buttoned,  or  not,  at  choice.  On  the 
rolling  collar  a  gold  foul  anchor — an  anchor  with  a  rope 
cable  twined  round  it — was  prescribed ;  but,  while  a  stand- 
ard embroidered  pattern  was  supplied  at  the  Academy 
store,  those  who  wished  procured  for  themselves  metal 
anchors,  and  these  not  only  were  of  many  shapes  and  sizes, 
but  for  symmetrical  pinning  in  place  demanded  an  ac- 
curacy of  eye  and  hand  which  not  every  one  had.  The 
result  was  variegated  and  fanciful  to  a  degree;  but  I  doubt 
if  any  of  the  officers  thought  aught  amiss.  So  the  regula- 
tion vest  buttoned  up  to  the  chin,  but  very  many  had 
theirs  made  with  rolling  collar,  to  show  the  shirt.  I  had  a 
handsome,  very  dandy,  creole  classmate,  whom  an  ad- 
miring family  kept  always  well  supplied  with  fancy  shirts; 
and  I  am  sure,  if  precisians  of  the  present  day  could  have 
seen  him  starting  out  on  a  Saturday  afternoon  to  pay  his 
visits,  with  everything  just  so  — except  in  a  regulation 
sense — and  not  a  back  hair  out  of  place,  they  must  have 
accepted  the  results  as  a  testimony  to  the  value  of  the 
personal  factor  in  uniform.  Respect  for  individual  tastes 
was  rather  a  mark  of  that  time  in  the  navy.  Seamen  handy 
with  their  needle  were  permitted,  if  not  encouraged,  to  em- 
broider elaborate  patterns,  in  divers  colors,  on  the  fronts 
of  their  shirts,  and  turned  many  honest  pennies  by  doing 
the  like  for  less  skilful  shipmates.  Pride  in  personal  ap- 
pearance, dandyism,  is  quite  consonant  with  military  feel- 
ing, as  history  has  abundantly  shown;  and  it  may  be  that 

68 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

something  has  been  lost  as  well  as  gained  in  the  sup- 
pression of  individual  action,  now  when  an  inspecting  of- 
ficer may  almost  be  said  to  carry  with  him  a  yard-stick 
and  micrometer  to  detect  deviations. 

A  very  curious  manifestation  of  this  disposition  to  be- 
deck the  body  was  the  prevalence  of  tattooing.  If  not 
universal,  it  was  very  nearly  so  among  seamen  of  that  day. 
Elaborate  designs  covering  the  chest,  or  back,  or  arms, 
were  seen  everywhere,  when  the  men  were  stripped  on 
deck  for  washing.  There  was  no  possible  inducement  to 
this  except  a  crude  love  of  ornament,  or  a  mere  imitation 
of  a  prevailing  fashion,  which  is  another  manifestation  of 
the  same  propensity.  The  inconvenience  of  being  branded 
for  life  should  have  been  felt  by  men  prone  to  desertion; 
but  the  descriptive  lists  which  accompany  every  crew  were 
crowded  with  such  remarks  as,  "Goddess  of  Liberty,  r.  f. 
a." — right  forearm — the  which,  if  a  man  ran  away,  helped 
the  police  of  the  port  to  identify  him.  My  memory  does 
not  retain  the  various  emblems  thus  perpetuated  in  men's 
skins;  they  were  largely  patriotic  and  extremely  conven- 
tional, each  practised  tattooer  having  doubtless  his  own 
particular  style.  Many  midshipmen  of  my  time  acquired 
these  embellishments.  I  wonder  if  they  have  not  since 
been  sorry. 


IV 

THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY  IN    ITS  INTERIOR  WORKINGS. 

PRACTICE  CRUISES 

1855-60 

In  the  preceding  pages  my  effort  has  been  to  reconstitute 
for  the  reader  the  navy,  in  body  and  in  spirit,  as  it  was 
when  I  entered  in  1856  and  had  been  during  the  period 
immediately  preceding.  There  was  no  marked  change  up 
to  1861,  when  the  War  of  Secession  began.  The  atmos- 
phere and  environment  which  I  at  first  encountered  upon 
my  entrance  to  the  Naval  Academy,  in  1856,  had  nothing 
strange,  or  even  unfamiliar,  to  a  boy  who  had  devoured 
Cooper  and  Marry  at — not  as  mere  tales  of  adventure,  but 
with  some  real  appreciation  and  understanding  of  condi- 
tions as  by  them  depicted.  I  had  studied,  as  well  as  been 
absorbed  by  them.  Cooper  is  much  more  of  an  idealist 
and  romancer  than  is  Marryat,  who  belongs  essentially  to 
the  realistic  school.  Some  of  the  Englishman's  presenta- 
tions may  be  exaggerate  ',  though  not  beyond  probability 
— elaborated  would  perhaps  be  a  juster  word — and  in  one 
passage  he  expressly  abjures  all  willingness  to  present  a 
caricature  of  the  seaman  he  had  known.  Cooper,  on  the 
other  hand,  while  his  sea  scenes  are  well  worked  up,  has 
given  us  personahties  which,  tested  by  Marryat's,  are  made 
out  of  the  whole  cloth;  creations,  if  you  will,  but  not  re- 
semblances. Marryat  entered  the  navy  earlier  than  his 
rival,  and  followed  the  sea  longer;  his  experience  was  in 
every  wav  wider.     Even  in  my  time  could  be  seen  justifi- 

70 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

cations  of  his  portrayal;  but  who  ever  saw  the  like  of  Tom 
Coffin,  Trysail,  or  Boltrope? 

The  interested  curiosity  concerning  all  things  naval 
which  possessed  me,  and  held  me  enthralled  by  the  mere 
sight  of  an  occasional  square-rigged  vessel,  such  as  at  rare 
intervals  passed  our  home  on  the  Hudson,  fifty  miles  from 
the  sea,  led  me  also  to  pore  over  a  copy  of  the  Academy 
Regulations  which  the  then  superintendent.  Captain  Louis 
Goldsborough,  (afterwards  Admiral),  had  sent  my  father. 
The  two  had  been  acquaintances  in  Paris,  in  the  twenties 
of  the  century  and  of  their  own  ages  I  have  always  had 
a  morbid  fondness  for  registers  and  time-tables,  and  over 
them  have  wasted  precious  hours;  but  on  this  occasion  the 
practice  saved  me  a  year.  I  discovered  that,  contrary  to 
the  established  rule  at  the  Military  Academy,  an  appointee 
to  the  Naval  might  enter  any  class  for  which  he  could  pass 
the  examinations.  Further  inquiry  confirmed  this,  and  I 
set  about  fitting  myself.  At  that  date,  even  more  than  at 
present,  the  standard  of  admission  to  the  two  academies 
had  to  take  into  account  the  very  differing  facilities  for 
education  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  as  well  as  the 
strictly  democratic  method  of  appointment.  This  being 
in  the  gift  of  the  representative*  of  the  congressional  dis- 
trict, the  candidates  came  from  every  section;  and,  being 
selected  by  the  various  considerations  which  influence  such 
patronage,  the  mass  of  lads  who  presented  themselves 
necessarily  differed  greatly  in  acquirements.  Hence,  to 
enter  either  Annapolis  or  West  Point  only  very  rudimen- 
tary knowledge  was  demanded.  Having  grown  up  my- 
self so  far  amid  abundant  opportunity,  and  been  carefully 
looked  after,  I  found  that  I  was  quite  prepared  to  enter  the 
class  above  the  lowest,  except  in  one  or  two  minor  matters, 
easily  picked  up.  Thus  forewarned,  I  came  forearmed. 
There  were  probably  in  every  class  a  dozen  who  could  have 
done  the  same,  but  they  accepted  the  prevailing  custom 

71 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

without  question.  I  believe  I  was  the  only  one  fortunate 
enough  to  make  this  gain.  In  some  instances  before,  and 
in  many  after,  the  academic  work  was  for  certain  classes 
compressed  within  three  years,  but  I  was  singular  in  enter- 
ing a  class  already  of  a  twelvemonth's  standing. 

About  my  own  examination  I  remember  nothing  except 
that  it  was  successful;  but  one  incident  occurred  in 
my  hearing  which  has  stuck  by  me  for  a  half-century. 
One  other  youth  underwent  the  same  tests.  He  had  al- 
ready once  entered,  two  or  three  years  before,  and  after- 
wards had  failed  to  pass  one  of  the  semi-annual  tests. 
Such  cases  frequently  were  dropped  into  the  next  lower 
class,  but  the  rule  then  was  that  a  second  similar  lapse  was 
final.  This  had  befallen  my  present  associate;  but  he  had 
"influence,"  which  obtained  for  him  another  appointment, 
conditional  upon  passing  the  requirements  for  the  third 
class,  fourth  being  the  lowest.  Examinations  then  were 
oral,  not  written;  and,  preoccupied  though  I  was  with  my 
own  difficulties,  I  could  not  but  catch  at  times  sounds  of 
his.  He  was  being  questioned  in  grammar  and  in  pars- 
ing, which  I  have  heard — I  do  not  know  whether  truly — 
are  now  looked  upon  as  archaic  methods  of  teaching;  and 
the  sentence  propounded  to  him  was,  "  Mahomet  was  driven 
from  Mecca,  but  he  returned  in  triumph."  His  rendering 
of  the  first  words  I  did  not  hear,  my  attention  not  being 
arrested  imtil  "but,"  which  proved  to  him  a  truly  disjunc- 
tive conjimction.  "But!"  he  ejaculated — "but!"  and 
paused.  Then  came  the  "practical"  leap  into  the  un- 
known. " '  But'  is  an  adverb,  qualifying  *  he,'  showing  what 
he  is  doing."  Poor  fellow,  it  was  no  joke  to  him,  nor  prob- 
ably his  fault,  but  that  of  circumstances.  When  released 
from  the  ordeal,  we  stood  round  together,  awaiting  sen- 
tence. He  was  in  despair,  nor  could  I  honestly  encourage 
him.  "Look  at  you,"  he  said,  "as  quiet  as  if  nothing 
had  happened" — I  was  by  no  means  confident  that  I  had 

72 


THE   NAVAL  ACADEMY 

cause  for  elation.  "If  I  were  as  sure  that  I  had  passed 
us  that  you  have,  I  should  be  skipping  all  over  the  place." 
I  never  heard  of  him  again;  but  suppose  from  his  name, 
which  I  remember,  and  his  State,  of  which  I  am  less  sure, 
that  he  took,  and  in  any  event  would  have  taken,  the  Con- 
federate side  in  the  coming  troubles.  His  loss  by  this  fail- 
ure was  therefore  probably  less  than  it  then  seemed. 

An  intruder,  in  breach  of  well-settled  precedent,  might 
have  expected  to  be  looked  on  askance  by  the  class  which 
I  thus  unusually  entered.  Not  the  faintest  indication  of 
discontent  was  ever  shown,  nor  I  believe  felt,  even  by  those 
over  whom  I  subsequently  passed  by  such  standing  as  I 
established,  although  the  fact  meant  promotion  over  them. 
The  spirit  of  the  officer  and  the  gentleman,  which  disdained 
hazing,  disdained  discourtesy  equally,  and  thrust  aside 
with  the  generosity  of  youth  the  jealousy  that  mature 
years  more  readily  cherishes  towards  competitors.  The 
habit  in  those  days  was  to  distinguish  classes,  not  by  the 
year  of  graduation,  but  by  that  of  entry — colloquially, 
the  so-and-so  "Date" — a  manner  derived  from  an  earlier 
period,  when  there  was  no  other  chronological  point  of  de- 
parture for  the  career;  and  in  those  "days  before  the  flood" 
nothing  would  have  tempted  vis  to  depart  from  a  time- 
honored  custom.  "Dates"  frequently  established  among 
their  contemporaries  reputations  analogous  to  those  of  in- 
dividuals. At  that  time  the  "  '41  Date,"  then  in  the  prime 
of  life,  was  obnoxious  to  those  below  it;  not  for  its  own 
fault,  but  because  of  its  numbers,  which,  with  promotion 
strictly  by  seniority,  constituted  a  superincumbent  mass 
that  could  not  but  be  regarded  bitterly  by  those  who  fol- 
lowed. At  present  there  would  be  the  consolation  that 
retirement,  though  distant,  would  ultimately  sweep  them 
all  away  nearly  simultaneously;  but  there  was  then  no 
retired  list.  Whatever  the  motive,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  had  been  moved  to  introduce,  in  1841,  over  two 

73 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

hundred  midshipmen/  which  put  an  almost  total  stop  to 
appointments  for  several  subsequent  years,  and  gave  the 
"Date"  the  invidious  distinction  it  enjoyed.  The  well- 
known  character  in  the  service  w^hose  hoisting  a  demijohn 
for  a  flag  I  have  before  mentioned,  and  who  found  this 
great  overplus  above  him,  was  credited  with  saying  that 
those  of  them  who  did  not  drink  themselves  to  death 
would  strut  themselves  to  death — a  comment  which  testi- 
fied rather  to  the  warmth  of  his  feelings  than  to  the 
merits  of  the  case.  Of  course,  the  greater  the  total,  the 
more  numerous  the  miworthy;  and  the  unfortunate  nat- 
ural bias  of  mankind  notices  these  more  readily  than  it 
does  the  capable. 

The  class  to  which  I  now  found  myself  admitted  was  the 
"  '55  Date,"  and  whatever  their  reputation  in  the  service, 
then  or  thereafter,  they  thought  themselves  uncommonly 
fine  fellows,  distinctly  above  the  average — not  perhaps  in 
attainments,  which  was  a  subsidiary  matter,  but  in  tone 
and  fellowship.  One  among  them,  a  turn-back  from  the 
previous  Date,  and  for  two  years  my  room-mate,  used  to 
declare  enthusiastically  that  he  was  glad  of  his  misfortune, 
finding  himself  in  so  much  better  a  crowd.  I  doubt  if  I 
could  have  gone  as  far  as  this,  but  in  the  general  estimate 
I  agreed  fully.  We  numbered  then  twenty-eight,  hav- 
ing started  with  forty-nine  a  twelvemonth  before.  Three 
years  later  we  were  graduated,  twenty.  The  dwindling 
numbers  testifies  rather  to  the  imperfection  of  educational 
processes  throughout  the  country  than  to  the  severity  of 
the  tests,  which  were  very  far  below  those  of  to-day.  I 
have  often  heard  it  said,  and  believe  it  true,  that  the  diffi- 
culty was  less  with  the  knowledge — that  is,  the  nominal 
acquirements — of  the  appointees  than  with  the  then  prev- 
alent methods  of  study  and  instruction,  which  had  de- 

'  Tlie  Nmry  Register  of  1842  shows  the  number  appointed  in  1841  to 

have  been  two  hundred  and  nineteen. 

< 

74 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

bauched  the  powers  of  application.  My  father,  after  a 
long  experience,  used  to  think  that  upon  the  whole  there 
was  better  promise  in  a  youth  who  came  with  nothing 
more  than  the  three  R's,  which  then  constituted  substan- 
tially the  demands  of  the  Military  Academy,  than  in  one 
with  a  more  pretentious  showing.  The  first  had  not  to 
unlearn  bad  habits.  An  illustration  that  the  courses  were 
not  too  severe,  for  an  average  man  beginning  with  the  very 
smallest  equipment,  is  afforded  by  a  true  story  of  the  time. 
A  lad  from  one  of  the  Southern  States, — ^Tennessee,  I  think, 
— ^liaving  obtained  an  appointment,  and  being  too  poor  to 
travel  otherwise,  walked  his  way  to  West  Point,  and  then 
failed  of  admission.  The  affecting  circumstances  becom- 
ing known,  a  number  of  officers  clubbed  together  and  sup- 
ported him  for  a  year  at  a  neighboring  excellent  school. 
He  then  entered,  passed  his  course  successfully,  and  proved 
a  very  respectable  officer.  There  was,  I  believe,  nothing 
brilliant  in  his  record,  except  the  earnestness  and  resolu- 
tion shown;  the  absence  of  these,  under  demands  which, 
though  not  excessive,  were  rigid,  was  the  principal  cause  of 
failures. 

The  requirements  were  certainly  moderate,  and  our 
healths  needed  not  to  suffer  from  over-application.  The 
marking  system  of  that  time  gave  the  numeral  4  as  a 
maximum,  with  which  standard  2 . 5  was  a  "  passing  aver- 
age." He  who  reached  that  figure,  as  the  combined  re- 
sult of  his  course  of  recitations  and  stated  examinations, 
passed  the  test,  and  went  on,  or  was  graduated.  The 
recitation  marks  being  posted  weekly,  we  had  constant 
knowledge  of  our  chances;  and  of  the  necessity  of  greater 
effort,  if  in  danger,  whether  of  failure  or  of  being  out- 
stripped by  a  competitor.  The  latter  motive  was  rarely 
evidenced,  although  I  have  seen  the  anxious  and  worried 
looks  of  one  struggling  for  pre-eminence  over  a  rival  who 
amused  himself  by  merely  prodding  where  he  might  have 

75 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

surpassed.     It  is  only  fair  to  add,  as  I  also  witnessed,  that 
no  congratulations  were  more  warmly  received  by  the 
victor  than  those  of  the  man  who  had  so  constantly  trod 
on  his  heels.     It  is  needless  to  say,  to  those  who  know  the 
world  in  any  sphere  of  life,  that  a  certain  proportion  were 
satisfied  with  merely  scraping  through.     The  authorities 
leaned  to  mercy's  side,  where  there  was  reasofiable  promise 
of  a  man's  making  a  good  sea  officer.     In  the  later  period 
of  written  examinations  an  instructor  of  much  experience 
said  to  me,  "If  a  man's  paper  comes  near  2.5,  I  always 
read  it  over  again  with  a  leaning  towards  a  more  favorable 
judgment  on  points;"  and  he  accompanied  the  words  with 
a  gesture  which  dramatically  suggested  a  leaning  so  pro- 
nounced that  it  would  certainly  topple  over  the  right  way. 
Not  strictly  judicial,  I  fear,  but  perhaps  practical.    There 
were  rare  instances  who  played  with  2.5,  enticed  perhaps 
by  the  mysterious  charms  of  danger.     Such  a  case  I  heard 
of,  a  man  of  unquestioned  ability,  who  it  was  rumored 
boasted  that  he  would  get  just  above  2.5,  and  as  near  as 
he  could.     He  was  read  dispassionately,  and  in  the  event 
came  out  2.47.     As  an  effort  at  approximation,  this  may 
be  considered  a  success;  but  for  passing  it  was  inadequate, 
and  his  general  character  did  not  bias  the  final  appeal  in 
his  favor.    He  was  not  dropped,  indeed,  but  had  to  under- 
go a  second  examination  three  weeks  later :  a  circumstance 
calculated  to  cloud  his  summer.     A  more  amusing  instance 
came  directly  under  my  observation.    He  was  a  candidate 
for  entrance,  and  I  then  head  of  one  of  the  departments  of 
the  Academy.     Although  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  ad- 
missions, his  father  came  in  to  see  me  immediately  after  the 
results  were  known.     He  had  a  marked  brogue,  and  was 
slightly  "elevated,"  by  success  and  by  liquor.     Placing  his 
hand  confidentially  on  my  arm,  he  whispered:  "He's  got 
in;  he's  got  in."     I  expressed  my  sympathy.     He  drew 
himself  up  with  a  smile  of  exultation,  and  said:  "He  only 

76 


THE   NAVAL   ACADEMY 

got  a  2.7.  I  said  to  him,  * ,  why  didn't  you  do  bet- 
ter than  that? — sure  you  could.'  'Whisht,  father,'  he  re- 
pHed,  Svhy  should  I  do  better,  when  all  I  need's  a  2.5?' 
Just  fancy  his  thinking  of  that!"  cried  the  proud  parent. 
"The  'cuteness  of  him!"  I  forget  this  lad's  further  career, 
if  I  ever  knew  it. 

One  of  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  two  academies 
then,  and  I  believe  now,  was  the  division  of  the  classes  into 
small  sections,  under  several  instructors.  This  gave  the 
advantage  of  very  frequent  recitations  for  each  student. 
None  was  safe  in  counting  upon  being  overlooked  on  any 
day,  and  the  teacher  was  kept  familiar  with  the  progress 
and  promise  of  every  one  under  his  charge.  It  admitted 
also  of  a  more  extensive  course  for  those  who  could  stick 
in  the  higher  sections — a  kind  of  elective,  in  which  the  elec- 
tion depended  on  the  teacher,  not  the  taught.  Thorough- 
ness of  acquisition  was  favored  by  this  steady  pressure, 
the  virtue  of  which  lay  less  in  its  weight  than  in  its  con- 
stancy; but  it  is  practicable  only  where  large  resources  per- 
mit many  tutors  to  be  employed.  The  Naval  Academy  has 
had  frequent  difficulty,  not  chiefly  of  a  money  kind,  but 
because  the  needed  naval  officers  cannot  always  be  spared 
from  general  service.  A  sound  policy  has  continuously 
favored  the  employment  of  sea  officers,  where  possible; 
not  because  they  can  often  be  equal  in  acquirement  to 
chosen  men  from  the  special  fields  in  question,  but  because 
through  them  the  spirit  and  authority  of  the  profession 
pervades  the  class-room  as  well  as  the  drill-ground,  and 
so  forwards  the  highly  specialized  product  in  view.  Be- 
sides, as  I  have  heard  observed  with  admiration  by  a  very 
able  civilian,  head  of  one  of  the  departments,  who  had 
several  officers  under  him,  the  habit  of  turning  the  hand 
to  many  different  occupations,  and  of  doing  in  each  just 
what  was  ordered,  following  directions  explicitly,  gives  na- 
val officers  as  a  class  an  adaptability  and  a  facility  which 
6  77 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

become  professional  characteristics.  It  may  be  interesting 
to  note  that  the  same  was  commonly  remarked  of  the  old- 
time  seaman.  His  specialty  was  everything — ^versatility; 
and  he  was  handy  under  the  least  expected  circumstances, 
on  shore  as  well  as  afloat.  Burgoyne  used  chaffingly  to 
attribute  his  misfortunes  at  Saratoga  to  the  aptitude  with 
which  a  British  midshipman  and  seamen  threw  a  bridge 
over  the  upper  Hudson.  "If  it  had  not  been  for  you,"  he 
said  to  the  culprit,  "we  should  never  have  got  as  far  as 
this." 

In  my  day  the  proportion  of  officers  was  less  than  after- 
wards, when  the  graduates  themselves  took  up  the  task  of 
instruction.  There  were  two  who  taught  us  mathematics, 
one  of  whom  remains  in  my  memory  as  the  very  best 
teacher,  to  the  extent  of  his  knowledge,  that  I  ever  knew. 
The  professional  branches,  seamanship  and  gunnery,  fell 
naturally  to  the  sea  officers  who  conducted  the  drills. 
These  studies,  as  pursued,  reflected  the  transition  condition 
of  the  period  which  I  have  before  depicted;  the  grasp  on 
the  old  still  was  more  tenacious  than  that  on  the  new.  The 
preparation  of  text-books  for  young  seamen  far  antedated 
the  establishment  of  naval  schools.  There  was  one.  The 
Sheet  Anchor,  by  Darcy  Lever,  a  British  seaman,  published 
before  1820,  which  had  great  vogue  among  us.  Among 
other  virtues,  it  was  illustrated  with  very  taking  pictures 
of  ships  performing  manoeuvres  in  the  midst  of  highly  con- 
ventional waves.  As  far  as  memory  serves  me,  I  think 
we  were  justified  in  regarding  it  as  more  instructive  than 
the  American  w^ork  assigned  to  us  by  the  course.  The 
Kedge  Anchor,  by  a  master  in  our  navy  named  Brady. 
A  kedge,  the  unprofessional  must  know,  is  a  light  anchor, 
dropped  for  a  momentary  stop,  or  to  haul  a  ship  ahead, 
the  title  being  in  so  far  very  consonant  to  the  object  of 
instruction;  whereas  the  sheet-anchor  is  the  great  and  last 
stand-by  of  a  vessel,  let  go  as  a  final  resource  after  the 

78 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

two  big  "bowers,"  which  constitute  the  usual  reliance. 
The  rareness  with  which  the  sheet  anchor  touched  ground 
(the  bottom)  gave  rise  to  the  proverb,  "  To  go  ashore  with 
the  sheet  anchor,"  as  the  ultimate  expression  of  attention 
to  duty;  and  the  story  ran  of  a  British  captain,  a  devoted 
ship-keeper,  who,  to  a  lieutenant  remonstrating  on  the 
little  privilege  of  leave  enjoyed  by  the  junior  officers, 
replied :  "  Sir,  when  I  and  the  sheet  anchor  go  ashore,  you 
may  go  with  us."  By  the  prescription  of  our  seniors  we 
had  to  tie  to  The  Kedge  Anchor,  let  us  hope  in  the  cause  of 
progress,  to  haul  us  ahead ;  but  in  a  tight  place  The  Sheet 
Anchor  was  our  recourse,  and  by  it  I — ^I  think  I  may  say  we 
—swore.  I  always  mistrusted  The  Kedge  Anchor  after  my 
researches  into  a  mysterious  sentence — "A  celebrated  mas- 
ter, now  a  commander,  in  the  navy  never  served  the  bow- 
sprit rigging  all  over."  In  the  old-time  frigates,  of  the 
days  of  Nelson  and  Hull,  the  master  was  at  the  head  of 
the  marling-spike  division  of  the  ship's  economy,  being,  in 
fact,  the  descendant  of  the  master  (captain)  of  more  than 
a  century  earlier,  who  managed  the  ship  while  soldiers 
commanded  and  fought  her.  But  the  masters  were  not  in 
the  line  of  promotion ;  in  the  British  navy  they  rarely  rose, 
in  our  own  much  more  rarely.  Who,  then,  was  this  cele- 
brated master,  now  a  commander?  Eventually  I  found 
the  sentence  in  a  British  book,  and  my  faith  in  the  pure 
product  of  American  home  industry  was  suddenly  shaken. 
It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  books  on  seamanship,  being  essen- 
tially an  accumulation  of  facts,  must  be  more  or  less  com- 
pilations. Methods  were  too  well  established  to  allow 
much  originality,  even  of  treatment. 

There  were  many  other  works  of  like  character,  the 
enumeration  of  which  would  be  tedious.  The  Young 
Officer's  Assistant  was  less  a  specific  title  than  a  generic 
description.  Several  of  them  were  contemporary;  and 
one,  by  a  Captain  Boyd  of  the  British  navy,  summed  up 

79 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

the  convictions  of  us  all,  teachers  as  well  as  pupils,  in  the 
sententious  aphorism:  "It  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
coal  whips  will  outlive  tacks  and  sheets."  It  is  scarcely 
kind  to  resm-rect  a  prophecy,  even  when  so  guarded  in  ex- 
pression and  safely  distant  in  prediction  as  was  this;  but  I 
fear  that  for  navies  tacks  and  sheets  are  dead,  and  coal 
whips  very  much  alive.  The  wish  in  those  days  fathered 
the  thought.  Who  to  dumb  forgetfulness  a  prey  could  vol- 
untarily relinquish  all  that  had  been  so  identified  with  life 
and  thought,  nor  cast  a  .longing,  lingering  look  behind? 
So  we  plodded  on,  acquiring  laboriously,  yet  lovingly, 
Iviiowledge  that  would  have  fitted  us  to  pass  the  examina- 
tions of  Basil  Hall  and  Peter  Simple.  To  mention  the  de- 
tails of  cutting  and  fitting  rigging,  getting  over  whole  and 
half  tops,  and  other  operations  yet  more  recondite,  would 
be  to  involve  the  unprofessional  reader  in  a  maze  of  in- 
comprehensible terms,  and  the  professional — of  that  period 
— in  famihar  recollections.  Let  me,  however,  Hnger  lov- 
ingly for  ten  lines  on  the  knotting—"  knotting  and  splicmg," 
as  the  never-divorced  terms  ran  in  the  days  when  rigging 
a  topgallant-yard  was  a  constituent  part  of  our  curriculum. 
The  man  who  has  never  viewed  the  realm  of  a  seaman's 
knots  from  the  outside,  and  tried  to  get  in,  must  not  flatter 
himself  that  he  fully  appreciates  the  phrase  "  knotty  prob- 
lem." I  never  got  in;  a  few  elementary  "bends,"  a  square 
knot,  and  a  bowline,  were  very  near  the  extent  of  my  man- 
ual acquirements.  The  last  I  still  retain,  and  use  when- 
ever I  make  up  a  bmidle  for  the  express;  but  before 
such  mysteries — to  me — as  a  Turk's-head  and  a  double- 
wall,  I  merely  bowed  in  reverence.  When  handsomely 
turned  out,  I  could  recognize  the  fact;  but  do  them  myself, 
no.  I  remember  with  humiliation  that  in  1862,  being  then 
a  young  lieutenant,  I  was  called  without  warning  to  hear 
a  section,  one  hour,  in  seamanship.  As  bad  luck  would 
have  it,  the  subject  happened  to  be  knotting,  and  there 

80 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

was  one  of  the  midshipmen  who  had  made  a  cruise  in  a 
merchant-ship.  The  knots  I  had  to  ask  about — to  which 
that  diaboHcal  youngster  invariably  repUed,  "I  can't  de- 
scribe it,  sir,  but  I  will  make  it  for  you" — the  convolutions 
through  which  the  strands  went  in  his  ready  fingers,  and 
my  eyes  vainly  strove  to  follow,  are  a  poignant  subject. 
There  was  no  room  for  the  time-honored  refuge  of  a  puz- 
zled instructor — "We  will  take  up  that  subject  next  recita- 
tion;" the  confounded  boy  was  ready  right  along,  and  I 
had  only  to  be  thankful  that  there  were  "no  questions 
asked." 

There  was  one  professional  subject,  "Naval  Fleet  Tac- 
tics" imder  sail,  which  at  the  end  of  my  time  shone  forth 
with  a  kind  of  sunset  splendor,  the  dying  dolphin  effect 
curiously  characteristic  of  the  passing  period  in  which  we 
were.  This  had  always  had  a  recognition — d'estime,  as  the 
French  say;  but  in  my  final  year  it  fell  into  the  hands  of 
a  new  instructor,  who  proceeded  to  glorify  it  by  amplifica- 
tion. He  was  a  very  accomplished  man  in  his  profession, 
a  student  of  it  in  all  its  branches,  though  there  was  among 
us  a  certain  understanding  that  he  was  not  an  eminently 
practical  seaman;  and  he  eventually  lost  his  life  in  what 
appeared  to  me  a  very  unpractical  manner,  being  where 
it  did  not  seem  his  business  to  be,  and  doing  work  which 
a  junior  would  probably  have  done  better.  We  remember 
William  III.  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne.  "Your  majesty, 
the  Bishop  of  Derry  has  been  killed  at  the  ford."  "What 
business  had  he  to  be  at  the  ford?"  was  the  unsympathetic 
answer.  The  text-book  used  by  our  new  instructor  was 
by  a  French  lieutenant,  written  in  the  thirties  of  the  cen- 
tury, and  characterized  by  something  of  the  peculiar 
French  naval  genius.  The  simpler  changes  of  formation 
were  so  simple  that  complication  could  not  be  got  into 
them;  but,  that  happy  stage  past,  we  went  on  to  evolutions 
of  huge  masses  of  ships  in  three  colimms,  in  which  the 

81 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM  ^ 

changes  of  dispositions,  from  one  order  to  another,  became 
subjects  of  trigonometrical  demonstration,  quite  as  trouble- 
some as  Euclid.  Sines,  cosines,  and  tangents,  of  fractional 
angles  figured  profusely  in  the  processes;  and  in  the  result 
courses  to  be  steered  would  be  laid  down  to  an  eighth  of  a 
point,  when  to  keep  a  single  vessel,  let  alone  a  column, 
steady  within  half  a  point  ^  was  considered  good  helms- 
manship.  There  being  no  translation  of  the  book,  our  text 
was  provided  by  copying,  individually,  from  a  manuscript 
prepared  by  our  teacher,  which  increased  our  labor;  but, 
curiously  enough,  the  effect  of  the  whole  procedure  was  so 
to  magnify  the  subject  as  materially  to  increase  the  im- 
pression upon  our  minds. 

Tliis  is  really  an  interesting  matter  for  speculation,  as 
to  what  in  effect  is  practical.  The  mastery  of  conclusions, 
to  which  practical  effect  never  could  have  been  given, 
served  to  drive  home  principles  which  would  have  come 
usefully  into  play,  had  the  sail  era  continued  and  the  United 
States  maintained  fleets  of  sailing  battle-ships  to  handle. 
For  myself  personally,  when  I  came  to  write  naval  history, 
long  years  after,  I  derived  invaluable  aid  from  the  prin- 
ciples and  the  simpler  evolutions,  thus  assimilated  and 
remembered.  But  for  them  I  should  often  have  found 
it  difficult  to  understand  what  with  them  was  obvious. 
A  singular  circumstance  thus  brought  out  was  the  want  of 
exactness  and  precision  in  English  terminology  in  this  field. 
The  most  notable  instance  that  occurs  to  me  was  in  Nel- 
son's journal  on  Trafalgar  morning,  "The  enemy  wearing 
in  succession,"  when,  in  fact,  as  a  matter  of  manoeuvre,  the 
hostile  fleet  "wore  together,"  though  the  several  vessels 
wore  "in  succession;"  a  paradox  only  to  be  understood  at 
a  glance  by  those  familiar  with  fleet  tactics  under  sail. 

^  That  is,  within  a  quarter  of  a  point  on  either  side  of  her  course.  A 
"point"  of  the  compass  is  one-eighth  of  a  right  angle;  e.g.,  from  North 
to  East  is  eight  points. 

82 


THE   NAVAL  ACADEMY 

Tho  usual  version  of  the  attack  at  Trafalgar  has  of  late 
been  elaborately  disputed  by  capable  critics.  I  myself 
have  no  doubt  that  they  are  quite  mistaken;  but  it  would 
be  curious  to  investigate  how  far  their  argument  derives 
from  inexact  phraseology — as,  for  example,  the  definition 
of  "column"  and  "Hne"  applied  to  ships. 

These  mathematical  demonstrations  of  naval  evolutions 
might  be  considered  a  lapse  from  practicalness  character- 
istic of  the  particular  officer.  They  took  up  a  good  deal 
of  valuable  time,  and  on  any  drill-ground  manoeuvres  are 
less  a  matter  of  geometric  precision  than  of  professional 
aptitude  and  eye  judgment.  The  same  mistake  could 
scarcely  be  addressed  at  that  time  to  the  other  parts  of  the 
Academy  curriculum.  Either  as  foundation,  or  as  a  super- 
structure in  which  it  was  sought  to  develop  professional 
intelligence,  to  inform  and  improve  professional  action, 
there  was  little  to  find  fault  with  in  detail,  and  less  still 
in  general  principle.  Tlie  previous  reasonable  professional 
prejudice  had  been  in  favor  of  the  practical  man,  the  man 
who  can  do  things — who  knows  how  to  do  them;  the  new 
effort  was  to  give  the  "why"  of  the  "how,"  and  to  save 
time  in  the  process  by  giving  it  systematically.  In  this 
sense — that  all  we  learned  ministered  to  professional  in- 
telligence— the  scholastic  part  was  thoroughly  professional 
in  tone;  and  I  think  I  have  shown  that  the  outside  pro- 
fessional sentiment  was  also  strongly  felt  among  us.  There 
is  always,  of  course,  a  disposition  latent  in  educators  to 
deny  that  practical  work  may  be  sufficiently  accomplished 
by  cruder  processes — by  what  we  call  the  rule  of  thumb — 
and  a  corresponding  inclination  to  represent  that  to  be 
absolutely  necessary  w^hich  is  only  an  advantage;  to  ex- 
aggerate the  necessity  of  mastering  the  "why"  in  order 
to  put  the  "how"  into  execution.  An  instance  in  point, 
already  quoted,  is  that  of  the  professor  who  maintained 
that  every  officer  should  be  able  to  calculate  mathemati- 

83 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

cally  the  relation  between  weights  and  purchases.  But 
between  1855  and  1860,  if  such  a  tendency  existed  in  germ, 
it  had  no  effect  in  practice.  As  I  look  back,  the  relation 
between  what  we  were  taught  and  what  we  were  to  do 
was  neither  remote  nor  indirect.  In  its  own  sphere,  in 
both  its  merits  and  its  faults,  the  Academy  was  in  aspira- 
tion as  professional  as  the  outside  service. 

This  means  that  the  Academy  constituted  for  us  an 
atmosphere  perfectly  accordant  with  the  life  for  which  we 
were  intended;  and  an  educational  institution  has  no  edu- 
cative function  to  discharge  higher  than  this.  Tliis  in- 
fluence was  enlianced  by  the  social  customs,  in  favor  of 
which  disciplinary  exactions  were  relaxed  to  the  utmost 
possible;  herein  departing  from  the  practice  at  the  Military 
Academy,  as  then  known  to  me.  Not  only  on  Saturdays 
and  holidays,  but  every  day,  and  at  all  hours  not  positively 
allotted  to  study  or  drills,  the  midshipmen  might  visit  the 
houses  of  officers  or  professors  to  which  they  had  the  en- 
trance. As  a  rule,  very  properly,  no  one  was  allowed  to 
be  absent  from  mess;  but  permission  could  always  be  ob- 
tained to  accept  an  invit  tion  to  the  evening  meal  with 
any  of  the  families.  This  freedom  of  intercourse  contrib- 
uted its  share  to  the  formation  of  professional  tone,  for 
the  heads  of  the  families  were  selected  professional  men, 
who  were  thus  met  on  terms  of  intimacy,  precluded  else- 
where by  the  official  relations  of  the  parties.  More  train- 
ing is  imparted  by  such  association  than  by  teaching — the 
familiar  contrast  of  example  and  precept.  An  even  great- 
er gain,  however— and  a  strictly  professional  gain,  too — 
was  the  social  facility  thus  acquired.  In  aU  callings  prob- 
ably, certainly  in  the  navy,  siocial  aptitude  is  profession- 
ally valuable.  Nelson's  dictum  that  naval  officers  should 
know  how  to  dance  was  only  one  way  of  saying  that  they 
should  be  men  of  affairs,  at  home  in  all  conditions  where 
men— or  women— gather  for  business  or  amusement.    The 

84 


THE   NAVAL  ACADEMY 

phraso  "all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men"  never  had  wider 
or  juster  application  than  to  the  assembly  of  green  lads, 
from  every  variety  of  parentage  and  previous  surroundings, 
pitchforked  into  Annapolis  once  every  year;  and,  of  all  the 
hmnanizing  and  harmonizing  influences  under  which  they 
came,  none  exceeded  that  of  the  quiet  gentlefolk,  of  mod- 
est means,  with  whom  they  mingled  thus  freely.  Indeed, 
one  of  the  most  astute  of  our  superintendents  took  into 
account  the  family  of  an  officer  before  asking  that  he  be 
ordered. 

An  element  in  our  social  environment  which  should  not 
be  omitted  was  the  prevalence  of  a  Southern  flavor.  In 
our  microcosm,  this  reflected  the  general  sentiment  of  the 
world  outside,  then  slowly  freeing  itself  from  the  spirit  of 
compromise  which  had  dominated  the  statesmanship  of  two 
generations  in  their  efforts  to  reconcile  the  incompatible. 
There  were  certainly  strong  Northern  men  in  plenty,  as 
well  as  strong  Southerners;  but  every  Southerner  was  con- 
vinced that  the  justice  was  all  on  their  side,  that  their  rights 
as  well  as  interests  were  being  attacked,  whereas  the  North- 
erners were  divided  in  feeling.  There  were  some  pro- 
nounced abolitionists,  here  and  there,  prepared  to  go  all 
party  lengths;  but  in  the  majority  from  the  North,  the  de- 
votion to  the  Union,  which  rose  so  instantaneously  to 
the  warlike  pitch  when  fairly  challenged,  for  the  present 
counselled  concession  to  the  utmost  limit,  if  only  thereby 
the  Union  might  endure.  In  this  the  membership  of  the 
school  reproduced  the  political  character  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  with  whom  appointment  rested;  and  at 
our  age,  of  course,  we  simply  re-echoed  the  tones  of  our 
homes.  Never  in  my  now  long  life  have  I  seen  so  evident 
the  power  of  conviction  as  in  the  Southern  men  I  then 
knew.  They  simply  had  no  hesitations;  whereas  we  others 
were  perplexed.  Yet  I  now  doubt  whether  the  Southern 
conviction  was  not  really,  if  unconsciously,  the  resolution 

85 


FROM  SAIL   TO  STEAM 

of  despair;  of  doom  felt,  though  unacknowledged;  not  be- 
fore the  attacks  of  the  North,  but  before  the  resistless  prog- 
ress of  the  world,  of  which  the  North  was  to  be  the  instru- 
ment. So  also  the  patience  of  the  North,  if  so  noble  a 
word  can  be  conceded  to  our  long  temporizing,  was  an 
miconscious  manifestation  of  latent  power.  To  those  who 
knew  what  the  Union  meant  to  those  who  exalted  it — 
should  I  not  rather  say  her? — in  passionate  adoration,  need 
never  have  doubted  what  the  response  would  be,  if  threat 
passed  into  act  and  hands  were  lifted  against  her.  Con- 
viction was  absolute  and  deep-rooted  on  that  side  as  on  the 
other;  but  it  was  less  on  the  surface,  and  sought  ever  a 
solution  of  peace. 

The  Muse  of  History  of  late  years  has  become  so  analytic, 
and  withal  so  embarrassed  with  the  accumulations  of  new 
material,  revealing  still  more  the  complication  of  causes 
which  undoubtedly  concur  to  any  general  result,  that  she 
is  prone  to  overlook  the  overpowering  influence  of  the  sim- 
ple elemental  passions  of  human  nature.  "Our  country, 
right  or  wrong,"  may  be  very  bad  morahty,  but  it  is  a 
tremendous  force  to  reckon  with.  One  is  wise  overmuch 
who  thinks  that  interest  can  restrain  or  statesmen  control; 
wise  unto  folly  who  ignores  that  disinterested  emotion,  even 
unreasoning,  may  be  just  the  one  factor  which  diplomacy 
cannot  master.  I  was  in  Rome  when  our  late  troubles 
with  Spain  came  on,  and  dined  with  a  number  of  the  diplo- 
matic body.  ''Oh  yes,"  said  to  me  one  of  these  illuminati, 
"  it  is  all  very  well  to  talk  about  humanity.  The  truth  is, 
the  United  States  wants  Cuba."  More  profound  was  the 
remark  of  an  American  politician,  who  had  recently  visited 
the  island.  "  I  did  not  dare  to  tell  all  I  saw;  for,  if  I  had, 
there  would  be  no  holding  our  people  back."  Personally, 
I  believed  that  the  interests  of  the  United  States  made  ex- 
pedient the  acquisition  of  Cuba,  if  righteously  accomplished, 
and  prior  to  the  war  I  knew  little  of  the  conditions  on  the 

86 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

island;  but  Cuba  would  be  Spanish  now,  if  interests  chiefly 
had  power  to  move  us.  So  in  the  War  of  Secession.  In- 
numerable precedent  occurrences  had  produced  a  condi- 
tion, but  it  was  the  passion  for  the  Union,  the  strong  loyalty 
to  that  sovereign,  which  dominated  the  situation,  and  in 
truth  had  been  dominating  it  silently  for  years;  a  passion  as 
profound  and,  though  justifiable  to  reason,  as  unreasoning 
as  any  simple  love  that  ever  bound  man  to  woman.  Could 
this  have  been  appreciated,  what  reams  of  demonstration 
might  have  been  spared  to  foreign  pens— demonstration  of 
the  folly,  the  hopelessness,  the  lust  of  conquest,  the  self- 
interest  in  myriad  forms,  which  were  supposed  to  be  the 
actuating  causes. 

Effectively,  the  South  had  lost  this  love  of  the  Union. 
In  this  respect  the  two  sections,  I  fancy,  had  parted  com- 
pany, unwittingly,  soon  after  the  War  of  1812;  through 
which,  as  we  all  well  know,  in  many  quarters  sectional  feel- 
ing had  still  prevailed  over  national.  The  North  had  since 
moved  towards  national  consciousness,  the  South  towards 
sectional,  on  paths  steadily  and  rapidly  diverging.  As  I 
recall  those  days,  when  I  first  awoke  to  political  observa- 
tion, I  should  say  that  the  feeling  of  my  Southern  associates 
towards  the  Union  was  that  which  men  have  towards  a 
friend  lately  buried.  Affection  had  not  wholly  disappeared ; 
but  fife  called.  Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead.  I  remem- 
ber on  my  first  practice  cruise,  in  1857,  standing  in  the 
main-top  of  the  ship  with  a  member  of  the  class  immediate- 
ly before  mine,  the  son  of  a  North  Carolina  member  of  Con- 
gress. "Yes,"  he  said  to  me,  "Buchanan  [inaugurated 
four  months  before]  will  be  the  last  President  of  the  United 
States."  He  was  entirely  unmoved,  simply  repeating  cer- 
titudes to  which  familiarity  had  reconciled  him;  I,  to 
whom  such  talk  was  new,  as  much  aghast  as  though  I  had 
been  told  my  mother  would  die  within  the  like  term. 
This  outlook  was  common  to  them  all.    The  Union  still 

87 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

was,  and  they  continued  in  it;  but  to  them  the  warn- 
ing had  sounded,  they  were  ready  and  acquiescent  in  its 
fall;  regretful,  but  resigned — ^very  much  resigned.  This 
attitude  was  more  marked  among  the  younger  men,  those 
at  the  school.  In  the  service  outside  I  found  somewhat 
the  same  point  of  view,  but  repulsion  was  keener.  The 
navy  then,  even  more  than  now,  symbolized  the  exterior 
activities  of  the  country,  which  are  committed  by  the  Con- 
stitution to  the  Union.  Hence,  the  life  of  the  profession 
naturally  nurtured  pride  in  the  nation;  and  while  States'- 
Rights  had  undermined  the  principle  of  loyalty  to  the 
Union,  it  had  been  less  successful  in  destroying  love  for 
it.  But  to  most  the  prospect  was  gloomy.  That  Massa- 
chusetts and  South  C  rolina  should  be  put  into  a  pen  to- 
gether, and  left  to  fight  it  out,  was  the  solution  expressed 
to  me  by  a  lieutenant  who  afterwards  fell  nobly,  in  com- 
mand, on  a  Union  deck  in  the  war;  the  gallant  Joe  Smith, 
concerning  whom  runs  a  story  that  cannot  be  too  widely 
known,  even  though  often  repeated.  When  it  was  report- 
ed to  his  father  that  the  Congress  had  surrendered,  he  said, 
simply,  "Then  Joe's  dead."  Joe  was  dead;  but  it  is  only 
fair  to  the  survivors  to  say  that  ninety  out  of  her  crew  of 
four  hundred  were  also  dead,  the  ship  aground,  helpless, 
and  in  flames. 

In  Annapolis,  the  capital  of  a  border  slave  state,  the 
general  sentiment  was,  as  might  be  expected,  a  blending 
of  North  and  South;  a  desire  to  maintain  the  Union,  but, 
distinctly  superior  in  motive,  sympathy  with  the  Southern 
view  of  the  case.  In  all  my  fairly  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  small  society  of  the  town  outside  the  Academy 
walls,  there  was  but  one  family  the  heads  of  which  were 
decisively  Union— not  Northern;  and  of  it  two  sons  fought 
in  the  Southern  armies.  Between  this  influence  and  that 
of  my  comrades  I  remained  as  I  had  been  brought  up — the 
Union  first  and  above  all,  but  with  the  conviction  that 

88 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

the  great  danger  to  the  Union  lay  in  the  abolition  prop- 
aganda. My  father  was  by  upbringing  a  Virginian;  by 
life-long  occupation  an  officer  of  the  general  government, 
imbued  to  the  marrow  with  the  principles  of  military 
loyalty.  Having  married  and  continuously  lived  in  the 
North,  he  had  escaped  all  taint  of  the  extreme  States'-Rights 
school;  but  the  memories  of  his  youth  kept  him  broadly 
Southern  in  feeling,  less  by  local  attachment  than  by  affec- 
tion for  friends.  More  than  twenty  years  after  his  death, 
when  I  was  on  court-martial  duty  in  Richmond,  an  old 
Confederate  general,  whom  I  had  never  seen,  sought  me 
out  in  memory  of  the  ties  that  had  bound  both  himself 
and  his  wife's  family  to  my  father.  With  these  clinging 
sympathies,  the  abolition  agitation  was  an  attack  upon 
his  friends,  and,  still  worse,  a  wanton  endangering  of  the 
Union.  To  save  me  from  being  carried  away  by  the  swell- 
ing tide  was  one  of  his  chief  aims. 

Regarded  by  themselves,  nothing  can  well  be  less  im- 
portant than  the  political  opinions  of  one  boy  of  eighteen 
to  twenty;  but  few  things  are  more  important,  if  they  are 
those  of  the  mass  of  his  generation,  for  then  they  are  the 
echo  from  many  homes.  I  believe,  from  what  I  saw  at  the 
Naval  Academy,  that  mine  were  those  of  the  large  ma- 
jority of  the  Northern  youth,  and  that  the  very  greatness 
of  the  concession  which  such  were  ready  to  make  for  the 
sake  of  the  Union  should  have  warned  the  disunionists 
that  the  same  love  was  capable  of  equally  great  sacrifices 
in  the  other  direction.  They  failed  so  to  understand; 
chiefly,  perhaps,  because  they  could  not  appreciate  the 
living  force  of  the  simple  sentiment.  Never  in  their  life- 
times, if  ever  before,  had  the  Union  held  the  first  place  in 
the  hearts  of  men  of  their  section;  and  such  love  as  had 
been  felt  was  already  moribund,  overcome  by  supposed  in- 
terest and  local  pride.  Thus  misled,  it  was  easy  to  believe 
that  in  the  North,  controlled  by  considerations  of  advan- 

89 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

tage,  yielding  would  follow  yielding,  even  to  permitting  a 
disruption  of  the  Union — a  miscalculation  of  forces  more 
fatal  even  than  that  of  "Cotton  is  King."  But  forces 
will  often  be  miscalculated  by  those  who  reckon  interest 
as  more  powerful  than  principle  or  than  sentiment. 

Singularly  enough,  considering  the  exodus  of   States'- 
Rights  officers  from  the  navy  at  the  outbreak  of  the  War 
of  Secession,  my  first  service  during  it  brought  me  into 
close  relations  iwith  two  captains,  both  Southerners,  whose 
differing  points  of  view  shed  interesting  light  upon  the 
varying  motives  which  in  times  of  stress  determined  men 
into  a  common  path.    The  first,  Percival  Drayton,  a  South- 
Carolinian,  had  a  strength  of  conviction  on  the  question  of 
slavery,  in  itself,  and  the  wrong-headed  coiu-se  of  the  slave 
power,  as  well  as  a  strong  devotion  to  the  Union,  all  which 
were  needed  to  keep  a  son  of  that  extreme  state  firm  in  his 
allegiance.     I  question,  however,  whether  any  other  one  of 
the  seceding  communities  furnished  as  large  a  proportion  of 
officers  who  stuck  to  the  national  flag,  chiefly  among  the 
older  men;  a  result  scarcely  surprising,  for  the  intensity  of 
affection  for  the  Union  necessary  to  withstand  nearest  rel- 
atives and  the  headlong  sweep  of  separatist  impulse,  where 
fiercest,  naturally  throve  upon  the  opposition  which  it  met, 
eliciting  a  corresponding  tenacity  of  adherence  to  the  cause 
it  had  embraced.     No  more  than  that  other  Southerner, 
Farragut,  did  Drayton  feel  doubt  as  to  where  he  belonged 
in  the  coming  struggle.     "I  cannot  exactly  see  the  differ- 
ence between  my  relations  fighting  against  me  and  I  against 
them,  except  that  their  cause  is  as  unholy  a  one  as  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  and  mine  just  the  reverse."    "Were  the 
sword  in  the  one  hand  powerful  enough,  the  secessionists 
would  carry  slavery  with  the  other  to  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  Union,  and  I  do  not  think  the  North  has  been  at 
all  too  quick  in  stopping  the  movement."     "I  do  not  think 
there  will  ever  be  peace  between  the  two  sections  until 

90 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

slavery  is  so  completely  scotched  as  to  make  extension  a 
hopeless  matter."  ^ 

Drayton  stayed  with  us  but  a  brief  time.  His  successor, 
George  B.  Balch,  who  still  survives,  now  the  senior  rear- 
admiral  on  the  retired  list  of  the  navy,  a  man  beloved  by 
all  who  have  known  him  for  his  gallantry,  benevolence,  and 
piety,  was  equally  pronounced  and  equally  firm;  but  his 
position  illustrated  and  carried  on  my  experiences  at  the 
Academy,  and  afterwards  in  the  service,  and  for  the  time 
confirmed  my  old  prepossessions.  He  was  fighting  for  the 
Union,  assailed  without  just  cause;  not  against  slavery, 
nor  for  its  abolition.  Were  the  latter  the  motive  of  the 
war,  he  would  not  be  in  arms.  This,  of  course,  was  then 
the  attitude  of  the  government  and  of  the  people  at  large. 
Abolition,  which  came  not  long  after,  was  a  war  measure 
simply;  received  with  doubt  by  many,  but  which  a  few 
months  of  hostilities  had  prepared  us  all  to  accept.  My 
own  conversion  was  early  and  sudden.  The  ship  had  made 
an  expedition  of  some  fifty  miles  up  a  South  Carolina  river, 
in  the  course  of  which  numerous  negroes  fled  to  her.  Un- 
like Drayton,  our  captain  was  rather  disconcerted,  I  think, 
at  having  forced  upon  him  a  kind  of  practical  abolition, 
in  carrying  off  slaves;  but  his  duty  was  clear.  As  for  me, 
it  was  my  first  meeting  with  slavery,  except  in  the  house- 
servants  of  Maryland,  superficially  a  very  different  condi- 
tion; and  as  I  looked  at  the  cowed,  imbruted  faces  of  the 
field-hands,  my  early  training  fell  away  like  a  cloak.  The 
process  was  not  logical;  I  was  generalizing  from  a  few  in- 
stances, but  I  was  convinced.  Knowing  how  strongly  my 
father  had  felt,  I  wondered  how  I  should  break  to  him  my 
instability;  but  when  we  met  I  found  that  he,  too,  had  gone 
over.  Youngster  as  I  still  was,  I  should  have  divined  the 
truth,  that  in  assailing  the  Union  his  best  friend  became 

'  Naval  Letters  of  Captain  Percival  Drayton.  Edited  by  Miss  Ger- 
trude L.  Hoyt.     1906.     Pages  10,  3,  4. 

91 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEMl 

his  enemy,  to  down  whom  abohtion  was  good  and  fit  as 
any  other  club.  "My  son,"  he  said,  "I  did  not  think  I 
could  ever  again  be  happy  should  our  country  fall  into 
her  present  state;  but  now  I  am  so  absorbed  in  seeing 
those  fellows  beaten  that  I  lose  sight  of  the  rest."  Peculiar 
and  personal  association  enhanced  his  interest;  for,  having 
been  then  over  thirty  years  at  the  Military  Academy,  there 
were  very  few  of  the  prominent  generals  on  either  side 
who  had  not  been  his  pupils.  The  successful  leaders  were 
ahnost  all  from  that  school:  Grant,  Sherman,  Thomas, 
Schofield,  on  the  Union  side;  Lee,  Jackson,  and  the  two 
Jolinstons  on  the  Confederate,  were  all  graduates,  not  to 
mention  a  host  of  others  only  less  conspicuous. 

In  last  analysis  slavery  may  have  been,  probably  was, 
the  cause  of  the  war;  but,  historically,  it  was  not  the 
motive.  Lincoln's  words — "I  will  save  the  Union  with 
slavery,  or  I  will  save  it  without  slavery,  as  the  case  may 
demand" — voiced  the  feehng  prevalent  in  the  military  ser- 
vices, and  also  the  will  of  the  great  body  of  the  Northern 
people,  whom  he  profoundly  understood  and  in  his  own 
mental  advance  illustrated.  I  cannot  but  think  that  such 
an  aim  was  more  statesmanlike  than  would  have  been  the 
attempt  to  overturn  immediately  and  violently  an  entire 
social  and  economical  system,  for  the  establishment  of  which 
the  current  generation  was  not  responsible.  In  the  long 
,  i-un,  to  allow  the  tares  of  bondage  to  stand  with  the  wheat 
of  freedom  was  wiser  than  the  wish  prematurely  to  uproot. 
It  had  become  the  definite  policy  of  the  enemies  of  slavery 
to  girdle  the  tree,  by  strict  encompassing  fines,  leaving  it 
to  consequent  sure  process  of  decay.  Its  friends  forced 
the  issue.  To  the  ones  and  to  the  others  the  harvest  of 
generations,  in  the  form  it  took,  came  imexpected  and 
suddenly — a  day  of  judgment,  a  crisis,  like  a  thief  in  the 
night.  It  is  a  consummate  proof  of  the  accuracy  of  popu- 
lar instinct,  given  time  to  work,  that  the  uprising  of  1861 

92 


THE    NAVAL   ACADEMY 

rested  upon  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  cause  of  the 
nation  and  of  the  world  depended  more  upon  the  preser- 
vation of  a  single  authority  over  all  the  territory  in- 
volved, upon  the  consequent  avoidance  of  future  perma- 
nent oppositions,  than  it  did  upon  the  destruction  of  a 
particular  institution,  the  life  of  which  might  be  pro- 
tracted, but  under  conditions  of  union  must  wane  and 
ultimately  expire.  The  gradual  progress  of  decision  by  the 
American  people  was  wiser  than  the  abrupt  action  asked 
by  foreign  impatience;  and  abolition  came  with  less  shock 
and  more  finality  as  a  military  measure  than  it  could  as 
a  political.  Its  advisability  was  more  evident.  If  states- 
manship is  shown  in  bringing  popular  will  to  accord  with 
national  necessity,  Lincoln  was  in  this  most  sagacious;  but 
not  the  least  element  in  the  tribute  due  him  is  that  he  was 
the  barometer  of  popular  impulse,  measuring  accurately 
the  invisible  force  upon  which  depended  the  energy  of 
that  stormy  period. 

Before  taking  final  leave  of  my  shore  experiences  at  the 
Naval  Academy,  I  will  recall,  as  among  them,  the  super!:) 
comet  of  the  autmnn  of  1858,  which  we  at  the  school  wit- 
nessed evening  after  evening  in  October  of  that  year,  dur- 
ing the  release  from  quarters  following  supper.  After  the 
lapse  of  so  nearly  a  half-century,  the  survivors  of  those 
who  saw  that  magnificent  spectacle  must  be  in  a  minority 
among  their  contemporaries,  whether  of  that  day  or  this. 
Since  its  disappearance  there  has  been  visible  one  other 
notable  comet,  which  I  remember  waking  my  children  after 
midnight- to  see;  but  compared  with  that  of  1858,  whether 
in  size  or  in  splendor,  it  was  hterally  as  moonlight  unto  sun- 
light, or,  in  impression,  as  water  unto  wine.  As  the  as- 
tronomers compute  the  period  of  return  for  the  earlier  at 
two  thousand  years,  more  or  less,  we  of  that  generation 
were  truly  singular  in  our  opportunity  of  viewing  this, 
among  the  very  few  "most  magnificent  of  modern  times." 

'  93 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEMI 

The  tail,  broadening  towards  the  end,  with  a  curve  like 
that  of  a  scimitar,  was  in  length  nearly  a  fourth  of  the  span 
of  the  heavens,  and  its  brightness  that  of  a  full  moon.  My 
memory  retains  the  image  with  all  the  tenacity  of  eighteen. 

Corresponding  in  some  measure  to  the  summer  encamp- 
ment at  the  Military  Academy,  the  Naval  gave  the  three 
months  from  July  to  September,  inclusive,  to  shipboard  and 
the  sea.  In  both  institutions  the  period  was  one  of  study 
interrupted,  in  favor  of  out-door  work;  but  at  West  Point  it 
was  accompanied  by  a  degree  of  social  entertainment  im- 
possible to  ship  conditions.  There  were  two  theories  as  to 
the  conduct  of  the  practice  cruises.  One  was  that  they 
should  be  confined  to  home  waters,  where  regular  hours 
and  systematized  instruction  in  "doing  things"  would  suf- 
fer little  interference  from  weather;  the  other  was  to  make 
long  voyages,  preferably  to  Europe,  leaving  to  the  normal 
variability  of  the  ocean  and  the  watchful  improvement  of 
occasions  the  biu-den  of  initiating  a  youth  into  practical 
acquaintance  with  the  exigencies  of  his  intended  profes- 
sion. Personally  I  have  always  favored  the  latter,  being 
somewhat  of  the  opinion  of  the  old  practical  politician — 
"Never  contrive  an  opportunity."  Naturally  an  opportu- 
nist, the  experience  of  life  has  justified  me  in  rather  awaiting 
than  contriving  occasions.  One  learns  more  widely  and 
more  thoroughly  by  reefing  topsails  when  it  has  to  be  done, 
than  by  doing  it  at  a  routine  horn",  without  the  accompani- 
ments of  the  wind,  the  wet,  and  the  lurching,  which  give 
the  operation  a  tone  and  a  tonic — the  real  thing,  in  short. 
Doubtless  we  may  wait  too  long,  like  Micawber,  even  for 
a  reef-topsail  gale  to  turn  up,  though  the  ocean  can  usually 
be  trusted  to  be  nasty  often  enough;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
one  over  sedulously  bent  on  making  opportunity  is  apt  to 
be  too  preoccupied  to  see  that  which  makes  itself.  Truth, 
doubtless,  lies  between  the  extremes. 

94 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

In  my  day  long  cruises  had  unquestioned  preference; 
and,  whatever  their  demerits  otherwise,  they  were  certainly 
eye-openers,  even  to  those  who,  like  myself,  had  obtained 
some  intelligent  impression  of  ships  at  sea.  As  instruction 
in  seamanship  was  then  never  attempted,  neither  by  work 
nor  book,  until  after  the  second  year,  we  went  on  board  not 
knowing  one  mast  from  another,  so  far  as  teaching  went. 
How  far  initial  ignorance  could  go  may  be  illustrated  by 
an  incident,  to  be  appreciated,  miluckily,  only  by  seamen, 
which  happened  in  my  hearing.  We  had  then  been  nearly 
two  months  on  board,  when  one  who  had  improved  his  op- 
portunities was  displaying  his  acquirements  by  the  pleas- 
ing method  of  catechising  another.  He  asked:  "Do  you 
know  what  the  topsail- tie  is?"  Tlie  rejoinder,  perfectly 
serious,  was:  "Do  you  mean  the  cross-tie?"  The  topsail- 
tie  being  one  of  the  principal  "ropes"  in  a  ship,  the  igno- 
rance was  really  sjmiptomatic  of  character;  and  had  not  the 
hero  of  it  been  long  dead,  I  would  not  have  preserved  it, 
even  incog.  I  fear  it  may  be  cited  against  my  view  of 
practice  cruises,  as  proving  that  systematic  training  is 
better  than  picking-up;  to  which  my  reply  would  be  that 
the  picking-up  showed  aptitude — or  the  reverse — if  only 
some  means  could  be  devised  of  making  it  tell  in  selection, 
as  it  assuredly  did  in  character.  But  at  the  beginning,  de- 
spite any  little  previous  inklings,  we  were  all  quite  green. 
I  still  recall  the  innocent  astonishment  when  we  anchored 
in  Hampton  Roads,  after  the  run  down  the  Chesapeake, 
and  the  boatswain,  as  by  custom,  pulled  round  the  ship  to 
see  the  yards  square  and  rigging  taut.  Semaphore  signal- 
ling was  not  then  used,  as  later;  and  his  stentorian  lungs 
conveyed  to  us  distinct  sounds,  bearing  meanings  we  felt 
could  never  be  compassed  by  us.  "Haul  taut  the  main- 
top bowlines!"  "Haul  taut  the  starboard  fore-topgallant- 
sheet."  "Maintop,  there!  Send  a  hand  up  and  square  the 
bunt  gaskets  of  the  topgallant-sail!"     "By  Jove!"  said 

95 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

one  of  the  admiring  listeners,  "  there's  seamanship  for  you!" 
We  all  silently  agreed,  and  I  dare  say  many  thought  we 
might  as  well  give  it  up  and  go  home.  Such  excellence 
was  not  for  us. 

The  subsequent  process  of  picking-up  was  attended  some- 
times by  comical,  as  well  as  painful,  incidents.  Peter 
Simple's  experiences,  as  told  by  Marryat,  were  not  yet 
quite  obsolete  in  practice.  A  story  ran  of  one,  not  long 
before  my  "date,"  who,  having  been  sent  on  two  or  three 
bootless  errands  by  unauthorized  jesters,  finally  received 
from  a  person  in  due  authority  the  absurd-sounding,  but 
legitimate,  message  to  have  the  jackasses  put  in  the  hawse- 
holes.^  "Oh  no,"  he  replied,  resentfully,  "I  have  been 
fooled  often  enough!  That  I  will  not  do."  I  can  better 
vouch  for  another,  which  happened  on  my  first  practice 
cruise.  In  a  sailing-ship  properly  planned,  the  balance  of 
the  sails  is  such  that  to  steer  her  on  her  course  the  rudder 
need  not  be  kept  more  to  one  side  than  the  other;  the  helm 
is  then  amidships.  But  error  of  design,  or  circumstances, 
such  as  a  faulty  trim  of  the  sails  or  the  ship  inclining  in  a 
strong  side-wind,  will  sometimes  so  alter  the  influencing 
forces  that  the  helm  has  to  be  carried  steadily  on  one  side, 
to  correct  the  ship's  disposition  to  turn  to  that  side.  She 
is  then  said  to  carry  weather  helm  or  lee  helm,  as  the  case 
may  be;  and  the  knowing  ones  used  to  assert  noticeable 
differences  of  saihng  in  certain  conditions.  In  many  ships  to 
carry  a  little  weather  helm  was  thought  advantageous,  and 
it  was  told  of  a  certain  deck-officer — he  who  repeated  the 
story  to  me  made  the  late  Admiral  Porter  the  hero — that 
the  ship  being  found  to  sail  faster  in  his  watch  than  in  any 
other,  the  commander  sent  for  him  and  asked  the  reason. 

1  The  anchoring  chains  pass  from  inboard  through  the  hawse-holes 
to  the  anchor.  When  left  bent  on  soundings,  the  sea,  if  rough,  will  rush 
tlirough  them  copiously.  To  prevent  this  in  part,  conical  stuffed  can- 
va,g  bags  were  dragged  in  from  outside.    These  were  called  "  jackasses." 

96 


THE   NAVAL  ACADEMY 

"Well,  sir,"  replied  the  lieutenant,  "I  will  tell  you  my 
secret.  As  soon  as  the  officer  I  relieve  is  gone  below  and 
out  of  sight,  while  the  watch  is  mustering,  I  walk  forward, 
look  round  at  things  generally,  and  say  casually  to  the 
captain  of  the  forecastle : '  Just  slack  off  a  little  of  this  jib- 
sheet.'  Then  about  ten  minutes  before  eight  bells,  after 
the  last  log  of  the  watch  has  been  hove,  while  the  men 
are  rousing  to  go  below,  I  go  forward  again  and  say, '  Come 
here,  half  a  dozen  of  us,  and  get  a  pull  of  the  jib-sheet;' 
and  I  turn  the  deck  over  to  my  relief  with  the  jib  well 
flattened  in."  In  result,  the  frigate  during  his  watch,  and 
his  only,  carried  a  weather  hehn.  My  own  experience 
of  sailing  ships  was  neither  prolonged  enough  nor  respon- 
sible enough  to  estimate  just  what  weight  to  attach  to 
these  impressions,  but  they  existed;  and  in  any  case,  as 
the  helm  varying  far  from  amidships  showed  something 
wrong,  the  question  was  frequent  to  the  hehnsman,  "How 
does  she  carry  her  helm?"  varied  sometimes  to,  "What  sort 
of  helm  does  she  carry?"  Now  we  had  among  our  green 
midshipmen  one  from  the  West,  tall,  angular,  swarthy,  with 
a  coal-black  eye  which  had  a  trick  of  cocking  up  and  out, 
giving  a  queer,  perplexed,  yet  defiant  cast  to  his  counte- 
nance; moreover,  he  stuttered  a  little,  not  from  imperfec- 
tion of  organs,  but  from  nervous  excitability.  AVe  had  also 
a  lieutenant  from  far  down  East,  red-haired,  sanguine  of 
complexion,  bony  of  structure,  who  had  a  gesture  of  tossing 
his  hair  and  head  back,  and  looldng  tremendously  leonine 
and  master  of  the  situation — monarch  of  all  he  surveyed. 
The  two  were  naturally  antagonistic,  as  was  amusingly 
shown  more  than  once ;  but  on  this  occasion  the  midshipman 
was  at  the  "lee  wheel,"  not  himself  steering,  but  helping 
the  steersman  in  the  manual  labor.  To  him  the  lieutenant, 
pausing  in  his  stride  and  tilting  his  chin  in  the  air,  says: 

"Mr.  ,  what  sort  of  helm  does  she  carry?"     , 

who  had  never  heard  of  weather  or  lee  helms,  and  probably 

97 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

was  not  yet  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  boatswain's 
seamanship,  twisted  his  eye  and  his  head,  looking  more  than 
ever  confounded  and  saucy,  and  stammered:  "I — I — I'm 
not  sure,  sir,  but  I  think  it's  a  wooden  one."  Tableau! — as 
the  French  say. 

In  position  on  board  we  were  midship-men  indeed,  in  a 
sense  probably  somewhat  different  from  that  which  first 
gave  birth  to  the  title.  We  were  not  seamen;  and  it  could 
scarcely  be  claimed  that  we  were  in  any  full  sense  officers, 
much  as  we  stuck  to  that  designation.  We  stood  midway. 
There  was  a  tradition  in  the  British  service  that  a  midship- 
man, though  in  training  for  promotion,  did  not,  while  in  the 
grade,  rank  with  the  boatswain  or  gunner,  who  had  no  fut- 
ure prospects,  and  who,  with  the  carpenter,  stood  in  a  class 
by  themselves.  Marryat,  who  doubtless  drew  his  characters 
from  Hfe,  tells  us  that  the  gunner  who  sailed  with  Mr.  Mid- 
shipman Easy  was  strong  on  the  necessity  for  the  gunner 
mastering  navigation,  and  had  many  instances  in  point 
where  all  the  officers  had  been  killed  down  to  the  gunner, 
who  in  such  case  would  have  been  sadly  handicapped  by 
ignorance  of  navigation.  I  fancy  the  doubt  seldom  needed 
to  be  settled  in  service;  the  duties  of  midshipman  and  boat- 
swain could  rarely  come  into  colHsion,  if  each  minded  his 
own  business.  By  luck,  just  after  writing  these  words,  I 
for  the  first  time  in  my  hfe  have  found  a  plausible  deriva- 
tion for  midshipman.*  It  would  appear  that  in  the  days 
immediately  after  the  flood  the  vessels  were  very  high  at 
the  two  ends,  between  which  there  was  a  deep  "waist," 
giving  no  ready  means  of  passing  from  one  to  the  other. 

1  Acknowledgment  is  here  due  to  Mr.  Thomas  G.  Ford,  once  a  pro- 
fessor at  the  Naval  Academy,  cordially  remembered  by  the  midship- 
men who  knew  him  there  in  the  fifties.  His  article  is  in  the  issue  of 
the  Naval  Institute  Proceedings  for  Jmie,  1906,  which  has  just  reached 
me.  He  attributes  his  information  to  the  late  Admiral  Preble,  almost 
the  only  American  officer  within  my  time  who  has  had  the  instincts  of 
an  archaeologist. 

98 


THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 

To  meet  this  difficulty  there  were  employed  a  class  of  men, 
usually  young  and  alert,  who  from  their  station  were  called 
midship-men,  to  carry  messages  which  were  not  subject 
for  the  trumpet  shout.  If  this  holds  water,  it,  like  fore- 
castle, and  after-guard,  and  knight-heads,  gives  another 
instance  of  survival  from  conditions  which  have  long  ceased. 
Whatever  the  origin  of  his  title,  it  well  expressed  the 
anomalous  and  undefined  position  of  the  midshipman.  He 
belonged,  so  to  say,  to  both  ends  of  the  ship,  as  well  as  to 
the  middle,  and  his  duties  and  privileges  ahke  fell  within 
the  broad  saying,  already  quoted,  that  what  was  nobody's 
business  was  a  midshipman's.  When  appointed  as  such, 
in  later  days,  he  came  in  "with  the  hay-seed  in  his  hair," 
and  went  out  fit  for  a  lieutenant's  charge;  but  from  first  to 
last,  whatever  his  personal  progress,  he  remained,  as  a  mid- 
shipman, a  handy-billy.  He  might  be  told,  as  Basil  Hall's 
first  captain  did  his  midshipmen,  that  they  might  keep 
watch  or  not,  as  they  pleased — that  is,  that  the  ship  had  no 
use  for  them;  or  he  might  be  sent  in  charge  of  a  prize,  as 
was  Farragut,  when  twelve  years  old,  doubtless  with  an 
old  seaman  as  nurse,  but  still  in  full  command.  Anjrwhere 
from  the  bottom  of  the  hold  to  the  truck — top  of  the  masts 
— he  could  be  sent,  and  was  sent;  every  boat  that  went 
ashore  had  a  midshipman,  who  must  answer  for  her  safety 
and  see  that  none  got  away  of  a  dozen  men,  whose  one 
thought  was  to  jump  the  boat  and  have  a  run  on  shore. 
Between  times  he  passed  hours  at  the  masthead  in  expia- 
tion of  faults  which  he  had  committed — or  ought  to  have 
committed,  to  afford  a  just  scapegoat  for  his  senior's  wrath. 
As  Marryat  said,  it  made  little  difference :  if  he  did  not  tliink 
of  something  he  had  not  been  told,  he  was  asked  what  his 
head  was  for;  if  he  did  something  off  his  own  bat,  the  ques- 
tion arose  what  business  he  had  to  think.  In  either  case 
he  went  to  the  masthead.  Of  course,  at  a  certain  age  one 
"turns  to  mirth  all  things  of  earth,  as  only  boyhood  can;" 

99 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

and  the  contemporary  records  of  the  steerage  brun  over 
with  unforced  jolHty,  like  that  notable  hero  of  Marryat's 

"  who  was  never  quite  happy  except  when  he  was  d d 

miserable." 

Such  undefined  standing  and  employments  taught  men 
their  business,  but  provided  no  remedy  for  the  miscellane- 
ous social  origin  of  midshipmen.  In  the  beginning  of  things 
they  were  probably  selected  from  the  smart  young  men  of 
the  crew;  often  also  from  the  more  middle-aged — in  any 
event,  from  before  the  mast.  Even  in  much  later  days  men 
passed  backward  and  forward  from  midshipman  to  lower 
ratings;  Nelson  is  an  instance  in  point.  When  a  man  be- 
came a  lieutenant,  he  was  something  fixed  and  recognized, 
professionally  and  socially.  He  might  fall  below  his  sta- 
tion, but  he  had  had  his  chance.  In  the  British  navy  many 
most  distinguished  officers  came  from  anywhere — through 
the  hawse-holes,  as  the  expression  ran;  and  a  proud  boast 
it  should  have  been  at  a  time  when-  every  Frenchman  in 
his  position  had  to  be  of  noble  blood.  What  w^as  all  very 
well  for  captains  and  lieutenants,  once  those  ranks  were 
reached,  was  not  so  easy  for  midshipmen.  We  know  m 
every  walk  of  life  the  woes  of  those  whose  position  is  doubt- 
ful or  challenged;  and  what  was  said  to  his  crew  by  Sir 
Peter  Parker,  an  active  frigate  captain  who  was  killed  m 
Chesapeake  Bay  in  1814,  "  I'll  have  you  touch  your  hat  to 
a  midshipman's  jacket  hung  up  to  dry"  (curiously  rem- 
iniscent of  William  Tell  and  Gessler's  cap),  not  improba- 
bly testifies  to  equivocahiess  even  at  that  late  date.  The 
social  instinct  of  seamen  is  singularly  observant  and  tena- 
cious of  their  officers'  manners  and  bearing.  I  have  known 
one,  reproved  for  a  disrespect,  say,  sullenly :  "  I  have  always 
been  accustomed  to  sail  with  gentlemen."  In  the  instance 
the  comment  was  just,  though  not  permissible.  Deference 
might  be  conceded  to  the  midshipman's  jacket,  but  it 
could  not  cover  defects  of  a  certain  order. 

100 


THE    NAVAL   ACADEMY 

The  midshipman's  berth,  as  attested  by  contemporary 
sketches,  was  peopled  by  all  sorts  in  age,  fitness,  and 
manners.  In  one  of  the  many  tales  I  devoured  in  youth,  a 
middle-aged  shellback  of  a  master's  mate,  come  in  from 
before  the  mast,  says  with  an  oath  to  an  aristocratic 
midshipman:  "Isn't  my  blood  as  red  as  yours?"  Still, 
even  in  the  British  navy,  with  its  fine  democratic  record, 
the  social  rank  was  more  regarded  than  the  military.  His 
Majesty's  ship  So-and-So  was  commanded  by  John  Smith, 
Esquire;  and  I  have  heard  this  point  of  view  stated  by 
competent  authority  as  accounting  for  the  address — George 
Washington,  Esquire — placed  by  Howe  on  the  letter  which 
Washington  refused  to  accept  because  not  carrying  the 
rank  conferred  on  him  by  Congress.  This  does  not,  how- 
ever, explain  away  the  "etc.,  etc.,"  which  followed  on  the 
cover.  John  Byng,  Esquire,  Admiral  of  the  Blue,  would 
thus  be  of  higher  consideration  as  Esquire  than  as  Ad- 
miral. Even  in  our  own  service  I  remember  an  old  log, 
the  pages  of  which  were  headed,  "Cruise  of  the  U.  S.  Ship 
Preble,  commanded  by  J.  B.  M ,  Esquire." 

In  the  practice  cruises  the  social  question  did  not  arise. 
Independent  of  the  democratic  tendency  of  all  boys'  schools, 
where  each  individual  finds  his  level  by  natural  gravitation, 
the  Naval  Academy,  for  reasons  before  alluded  to,  has  been 
remarkably  successful  in  assimilating  its  heterogeneous  raw 
material  and  turning  out  a  finished  product  of  a  good  aver- 
age social  quality.  Beyond  this,  social  success  or  failure 
depends  everywhere  upon  personal  aptitudes  which  no 
training  can  bestow.  But  as  officers  we  were  nondescript. 
There  were  too  many  of  us;  and  for  the  most  the  object  was 
to  acquire  a  sufficient  seaman's  knowledge,  not  an  officer's. 
Yet,  curiously  enough,  so  at  least  it  seemed  to  me,  there 
was  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  some  to  be  jealous  of  any 
supposed  infringement  of  our  prerogative  to  be  treated  as 
"a  bit  of  an  officer."     Ashore  or  afloat,  we  made  our  own 

101 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

beds  or  lashed  our  own  hammocks,  swept  our  rooms,  tend- 
ed our  clothes,  and  blacked  our  boots ;  our  drills  were  those 
of  the  men  before  the  mast,  at  sails  and  guns;  all  parts  of 
a  seaman's  work,  except  cleaning  the  ship,  was  required  and 
willingly  done;  but  there  was  a  comical  rebellion  on  one 
occasion  when  ordered  to  pull — row — a  boat  ashore  for  some 
purpose,  and  almost  a  mutiny  when  one  lieutenant  directed 
us  to  go  barefooted  while  decks  were  being  scrubbed,  a 
practice  which,  besides  saving  your  shoe-leather,  is  both 
healthy,  cleanly,  and,  in  warm  weather,  exceedingly  com- 
forting. Some  asserted  that  the  lieutenant  in  question, 
who  afterwards  commanded  one  of  the  Confederate  com- 
merce-destroyers, and  from  his  initials  (Jas.  I.)  was  known 
to  us  as  Jasseye,  had  done  this  because  he  had  very  pretty 
feet  which  he  liked  to  show  bare,  and  we  must  do  the 
same;  much  as  Germans  are  said  to  train  their  mustaches 
with  the  emperor's.  At  all  events,  there  was  great  wrath, 
which  I  supposed  I  should  have  shared  had  I  not  preferred 
bare  feet — not  for  as  sound  reasons  as  the  lieutenant's.  It 
stands  to  reason,  however,  that  that  imputation  was  slan- 
derous, for  there  were  no  appreciative  observers,  unless  him- 
self. Why  waste  such  sweetness  on  the  desert  air  of  a 
lot  of  heedless  midshipmen?  With  so  many  details  regu- 
lated— if  not  enforced — from  the  length  of  our  hair  to  the 
cut  of  our  trousers,  it  did  seem  hypercritical  to  object  to 
going  shoeless  for  an  hour.  But  who  is  consistent?  The 
uncertainty  of  our  position  kept  the  chip  on  the  shoulder. 


MY  FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION— NAUTICAL 
CHARACTERS 

1859-1861 

At  the  moment  of  graduation,  in  the  summer  of  1S59,  I 
had  a  narrow  escape  from  the  cutting  short  of  my  career, 
resembling  that  which  a  man  has  from  a  railway  accident 
by  missing  the  train.  To  a  certain  extent  the  members 
of  classes  were  favored  in  forming  groups  of  friends,  and 
choosing  the  ship  to  which  they  would  be  sent.  Myself 
and  two  intimates  applied  for  the  sloop-of-war  Levant, 
destined  for  the  Pacific  by  way  of  Cape  Horn;  our  motive 
being  partly  the  kind  of  vessel,  supposed  by  us  to  favor  pro- 
fessional opportunity,  and  partly  the  friendship  existing 
between  one  of  us  and  the  master  of  the  Levant,  a  graduate 
of  two  or  three  years  before,  who  had  just  completed  his 
examinations  for  promotion.  Luckily  for  us,  and  particu- 
larly for  me,  as  the  only  one  of  the  three  who  in  after  life 
survived  middle  age,  the  frigate  Congress  was  fitting  out, 
and  her  requirements  for  officers  could  not  be  disregarded. 
The  Levant  sailed,  reached  the  Pacific,  and  disappeared — 
one  of  the  mysteries  of  the  deep.  We  very  young  men 
had  the  impression  that  small  vessels  were  better  calculated 
to  advance  us  professionally,  because,  having  fewer  offi- 
cers, deck  duty  might  be  devolved  on  us,  either  to  ease  the 
regular  watch  officers  or  in  case  of  a  disabihty.  This  pre- 
possession extended  particularly  to  brigs,  of  which  the 
navy  then  had  several.     This  was  a  pretty  wild  imagin- 

103 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

ing,  for  I  can  hardly  conceive  any  one  intrusting  such  a 
vessel  to  a  raw  midshipman.  It  is  scarcely  an  exaggera- 
tion to  say  they  were  all  canvas  and  no  hull — beautiful  as 
a  dream,  but  dangerous  to  a  degree,  except  to  the  skiKul. 
As  it  was,  an  unusual  proportion  of  them  came  to  grief. 
Our  views  were  doubtless  largely,  if  unconsciously,  affected 
by  the  pleasing  idea  of  prospective  early  importance  as 
deck  officers.  The  more  solid  opinion  of  our  seniors  was 
that  we  would  do  better  to  pause  awhile  on  the  bottom 
step,  under  closer  supervision;  while  as  for  vessel,  the  order, 
dignity,  and  scale  of  performance  on  big  ships  were  more 
educative,  more  formative  of  military  character,  which, 
and  not  seamanship,  is  the  leading  element  of  professional 
value.  "Keep  them  at  sea,"  said  Lord  St.  Vincent,  "and 
they  can't  help  becoming  seamen;  but  attention  is  needed 
to  make  them  learn  their  business  with  the  guns."  I  have 
already  mentioned  that,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of 
Secession,  it  was  this  factor  which  decided  the  authorities 
to  give  seniority  to  the  very  young  lieutenants  over  the 
volunteers  from  the  merchant  service,  most  of  whom  had 
longer  experience  and  (though  by  no  means  all  of  them) 
consequent  abihty  as  seamen. 

After  graduating,  my  first  cruise  was  upon  what  was  then 
known  as  the  Brazil  Station;  by  the  British  called  more 
comprehensively  the  Southeast  Coast  of  America.  After 
the  war  the  name  and  limits  were  judiciously  changed.  It 
became  then  the  South  Atlantic  Station,  to  embrace  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and,  generally,  the  coasts  of  South 
America  and  Africa,  with  the  islands  lying  between,  such 
as  St.  Helena  and  the  Falklands.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  healthy  activity  for  the  ships  and  their  companies,  and 
specifically  for  the  education  of  younger  officers,  this  ex- 
tension was  most  desirable.  In  the  earlier  time  long  peri- 
ods were  spent  in  port,  because  there  really  was  not  enough 
that  required  doing.     Our  captain  once  kept  the  ship  at 

104 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

sea  for  a  fortnight  or  more,  "cruising;"  that  is,  moving 
about  within  certain  Hmits  back  and  forth.  In  war-time 
this  is  frequent,  if  not  general;  but  then  it  is  for  a  specific 
purpose,  conducive  to  the  ends  of  war.  In  peace,  cruising 
ends  in  itself;  it  is  like  a  "constitutional;"  beneficial,  no 
doubt,  but  not  to  most  men  as  healthily  beneficial  as  the 
walk  to  the  office,  with  its  definite  object  and  the  incidental 
amusement  of  the  streets.  A  terminus  ad  quern  is  essential 
to  the  perfection  of  exercise,  bodily  or  mental.  As  it  was, 
Montevideo,  in  the  river  La  Plata,  and  Rio  de  Janeiro  were 
the  two  chief  ports  between  which  we  oscillated,  with  rare 
and  brief  stays  elsewhere  or  at  sea. 

The  Congress  was  a  magnificent  ship  of  her  period.  The 
adjective  is  not  too  strong.  Having  been  built  about  1840, 
she  represented  the  culmination  of  the  sail  era,  which, 
judged  by  her,  reached  then  the  splendid  maturity  that  in 
itself,  to  the  prophetic  eye,  presages  decay  and  vanish- 
ment. In  her  just  but  strong  proportions,  in  her  fines, 
fine  yet  not  deficate,  she  "seemed  to  dare,"  and  did  dare, 
"the  elements  to  strife;"  while  for  "her  peopled  deck," 
when  her  five  hundred  and  odd  men  swarmed  up  for  an 
evolution,  or  to  get  their  hammocks  for  the  night,  it  was 
peopled  to  the  square  foot,  despite  her  size.  On  her  fore- 
castle, and  to  the  fore  and  main  masts,  each,  were  stationed 
sixty  men,  full  half  of  them  prime  seamen,  not  only  in  skill, 
but  in  age  and  physique— ninety  for  the  starboard  watch, 
and  ninety  for  the  port;  not  to  comit  the  mizzen-topmen, 
after-guard,  and  marines,  more  than  as  many  more.  I 
have  always  remembered  the  effect  produced  upon  me  by 
this  huge  mass,  when  all  hands  gathered  once  to  wear 
ship  in  a  heavy  gale,  the  height  of  one  of  those  furious 
pamperos  which  issue  from  the  prairies  (pampas)  of  Buenos 
Ayres.  The  ship  having  only  fore  and  main  topsails,  close 
reefed,  the  officers,  beyond  those  of  the  watch,  were  not 
summoned;  the  handling  of  the  yards  required  only  the 

105 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

brute  force  of  muscle,  under  which,  even  in  such  conditions, 
they  were  as  toys  in  the  hands  of  that  superb  ship's  com- 
pany. I  had  thus  the  chance  to  see  things  from  the  poop, 
a  kind  of  bird's-eye  view.  As  the  ship  fell  off  before  the 
wind,  and  while  the  captain  was  waiting  that  smoother 
chance  which  from  time  to  time  offers  to  bring  her  up  to 
it  again  on  the  other  side  with  the  least  shock,  she  of 
course  gathered  accelerated  way  with  the  gale  right  aft — 
scudding,  in  fact.  Unsteadied  by  wind  on  either  side,  she 
rolled  deeply,  and  the  sight  of  those  four  hundred  or  more 
faces,  all  turned  up  and  aft,  watching  intently  the  officer  of 
the  deck  for  the  next  order,  the  braces  stretched  taut  along 
in  their  hands  for  instant  obedience,  was  singularly  strik- 
ing. Usually  a  midshipman  had  to  be  in  the  midst  of  such 
matters  with  no  leisure  for  impressions — at  least,  of  an 
"impressionist"  character.  Those  were  the  prerogatives 
of  the  idlers — the  surgeon,  chaplain,  and  marine  officers — 
who  obtained  thereby  not  only  the  benefit  of  the  show, 
but  material  for  discussion  as  to  how  well  the  thing  had 
been  done,  or  whether  it  ought  to  have  been  done  at  all. 
The  midshipman's  part  at  "all  hands"  was  to  be  as  much 
in  the  way  as  was  necessary  to  see  all  needed  gear  manned, 
no  skulkers,  and  as  much  out  of  the  way  as  his  personal 
stability  required,  from  the  rush  of  the  huge  gangs  of  sea- 
men "running  away"  with  a  rope. 

I  never  had  the  opportunity  of  viewing  the  ship  from 
outside  under  way  at  sea;  but  she  was  delightful  to  look 
at  in  port.  Her  spars,  both  masts  and  yards,  lofty  and 
yet  square,  were  as  true  to  proportion,  for  perfection  of 
appearance,  as  was  her  hull;  and  the  twenty-five  guns  she 
showed  on  each  broadside,  in  two  tiers,  though  they  had 
abundance  of  working  -  room,  were  close  enough  together 
to  suggest  two  strong  rows  of  solid  teeth,  ready  for  instant 
use.  Nothing  could  be  more  splendidly  martial.  But 
what  old-timers  they  were,  with  the  swell  of  their  black 

106 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

muzzles,  like  the  lips  of  a  full-blooded  negro.  Thirty-two- 
pounders,  all  of  them;  except  on  either  side  five  eight-inch 
shell  guns,  a  small  tribute  to  progress.  The  rest  threw 
solid  shot  for  the  most  part.  Imposing  as  they  certainly 
looked,  and  heavier  though  they  were  than  most  of  those 
with  which  the  world's  famous  sea-fights  have  been  fought, 
they  were  already  antediluvian.  A  few  years  later  I  saw  a 
long  range  of  them  enjoying  their  last  repose  on  the  skids 
in  a  navy-yard;  and  a  bystander,  with  equal  truth  and  ir- 
reverence, called  them  pop-guns.  One  almost  felt  that  the 
word  should  be  uttered  in  a  whisper,  out  of  respect  for  their 
feelings.  But  the  whole  equipment  of  the  ship,  though  up 
to  date  in  itself,  was  so  far  of  the  past  that  I  recall  it  with 
mingled  pathos  and  interest.  What  naval  officer  who  may 
read  these  words  was  ever  shipmate  with  rope  "trusses" 
for  the  lower  yards,  or  with  a  hemp  messenger?  A  "mes- 
senger" was  a  huge  rope,  of  I  suppose  eighteen  to  twenty- 
four  inches  circumference,  used  for  lifting  the  anchor.  At 
the  after  end  of  the  ship  it  was  passed  three  times  round 
the  capstan,  where  the  men  walking  round  merrily  to  the 
sound  of  the  fife,  under  the  eyes  of  the  officer  of  the  deck, 
were  doing  the  work  of  weighing;  at  the  forward  end  it 
moved  round  rollers  to  save  friction.  Thus  one  part  was 
taut  under  the  strain  of  the  capstan;  and  to  this  the  cable 
of  the  anchor,  as  it  was  hove  in,  was  made  fast  by  a  suc- 
cession of  selvagees,  for  which  I  will  borrow  the  elaborate 
description  of  White  Jacket,  who  tells  us  the  name  was  ap- 
phed  by  the  seamen  of  his  ship  to  one  of  the  lieutenants: 
"It  is  a  slender,  tapering,  mistranded  piece  of  rope,  pre- 
pared with  much  solicitude;  peculiarly  flexible;  which 
wreathes  and  serpentines  romid  the  cable  and  messenger 
like  an  elegantly  modelled  garter-snake  round  the  stalks 
of  a  vine."  The  messenger  thus  was  appropriately  named; 
it  went  back  and  forth  on  its  errand  of  anchor  raising,  the 
slack  side  being  helped  on  its  way  by  a  row  of  twelve  or 

107 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

fifteen  men  seated,  pulling  it  along  forward.  This  gang, 
by  immemorial  usage,  was  composed  of  the  colored  ser- 
vants, and  I  can  see  now  that  row  of  black  faces,  with 
grinning  ivories,  as  they  yo-ho'd  in  undertones  together, 
"lighting  forward  the  messenger." 

Like  the  ship  and  her  equipment,  the  officers  and  crew 
by  training  and  methods  were  still  of  the  olden  time  in  tone 
and  ideals;  a  condition,  of  course,  fostered  at  the  moment 
by  the  style  of  vessel.  Yet  they  had  that  curious  adapt- 
ability characteristic  of  the  profession,  which  afterwards 
enabled  them  to  fall  readily  into  the  use  of  the  new  con- 
structions of  every  kind  evolved  by  the  War  of  Secession. 
Concerning  some  of  these,  a  naval  professional  humorist 
observed  that  they  could  be  worshipped  without  idolatry; 
for  they  were  like  nothing  in  heaven,  or  on  earth,  or  in  the 
waters  under  the  earth.  Adored  or  not,  they  were  handled 
to  purpose.  By  a  paradoxical  combination,  the  seaman  of 
those  days  was  at  once  most  conservative  in  temperament 
and  versatile  in  capacity.  Among  the  officers,  however, 
there  was  an  open  vision  towards  the  future.  I  well  remem- 
ber "Joe"  Smith  enlarging  to  me  on  the  merits  of  Cowper 
Coles's  projected  turret  ship,  much  talked  about  in  the  Brit- 
ish press  in  1860;  a  full  year  or  more  before  Ericsson,  under 
the  exigency  of  existing  war,  obtained  from  us  a  hearing 
for  the  Monitor.  Coles's  turrets,  being  then  a  novel  project, 
were  likened,  explanatorily,  to  a  railway  turn-table,  a  very 
illustrative  definition;  and  Smith  was  already  convinced 
of  the  value  of  the  design,  which  was  proved  in  Hampton 
Roads  the  day  after  he  himself  fell  gloriously  on  the  deck 
of  the  Congress.  There  is  a  double  tragedy  in  his  missing 
by  this  brief  space  the  clear  demonstration  of  a  system  to 
which  he  so  early  gave  his  adherence;  and  it  is  another 
tragedy,  wdiich  most  Americans  except  naval  officers  will 
have  forgotten,  that  Coles  himself  found  his  grave  in  the 
ship— the  Cajjtom— ultimately  built  through  his  urgency 

108 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

upon  this  turret  principle.  This  happened  in  1870.  The 
tradition  of  masts  and  sails,  as  economical,  still  surviving, 
she  was  equipped  with  them,  which  we  from  the  beginning 
liad  discarded  in  monitors.  The  Captaiii  was  a  large  ves- 
sel with  low  freeboard,  her  deck  only  six  feet  above  water. 
Lying  to  under  sail  in  a  moderate  gale,  in  the  Bay  of  Bis- 
cay, she  heeled  over  in  a  squall,  bringing  the  lee  side  of  the 
deck  under  water;  and  the  force  of  the  wind  increasing, 
without  meeting  the  resistance  offered  ordinarily  by  the 
pressure  of  the  water  against  the  lee  side  of  a  ship,  she 
went  clean  over  and  sank.  The  incident  made  the  deeper 
impression  upon  me  because  two  months  before  I  had 
visited  her,  when  she  was  lying  at  Spithead  in  company 
with  another  iron-clad,  the  Monarch,  which  soon  after  was 
assigned  by  the  British  government  to  bring  George  Pea- 
body's  remains  to  their  final  resting-place  in  America.  I 
then  met  and  was  courteously  received  by  the  captain  of 
the  Captain,  Burgoyne,  of  the  same  family  as  the  general 
known  to  our  War  of  Independence.  Coles  had  gone  mere- 
ly as  a  passenger,  to  observe  the  practical  working  of  his 
designs.  I  do  not  know  how  far  the  masting  was  conso- 
nant to  his  wishes.  It  may  have  been  forced  upon  him  as 
a  concession,  necessary  to  obtain  his  main  end;  but  noth- 
ing could  be  more  incongruous  than  to  embarrass  the  all- 
round  fire  of  turrets  by  masts  and  rigging. 

In  1859  the  United  States  government  was  coquetting 
with  the  title  "Admiral,"  which  was  supposed  to  have  some 
insidious  connection  with  monarchical  institutions.  Even 
so  sensible  and  thoughtful  a  man  as  our  sail-maker,  who  was 
a  devout  disciple  and  constant  reader  of  Horace  Greeley, 
with  the  advanced  political  tendencies  of  the  Tribune,  said 
to  me :  "  Call  them  admirals !  Never !  They  will  be  want- 
ing to  be  dukes  next."  We  had  hit,  therefore,  on  a  com- 
promise, quite  accortlant  with  the  transition  decade  1850- 
1860,  and  styled  them  flag-officers;  concerning  which  it 
8  109 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

might  be  said  that  all  admirals  are  flag-officers,  but  all  flag- 
officers  were  not  admirals — not  American  flag-officers,  at 
all  events.  As  a  further  element  in  the  compromise,  in- 
stead of  the  broad  swallow-tailed  pendant  of  a  commodore, 
our  previous  flag-rank,  we  carried  the  square  flag  at  the 
mizzen  indicative  in  all  navies  of  a  rear-admiral,  to  which 
we  gave  a  rear-admiral's  salute  of  thirteen  gims,  and  ex- 
pected the  same  from  foreigners;  while  all  the  time  the 
recipient  stood  on  our  Navy  Register  as  a  captain,  only 
temporarily  brevetted  Flag-officer.  Well  do  I  remember 
the  dismay  of  our  flag-officer  when,  quitting  a  British  ship 
of  war,  she  fired  the  customary  salute,  and  stopped  at 
eleven — a  commodore's  perquisite.  The  hit  was  harder, 
because  the  old  gentleman  was  particularly  fond  of  the 
English,  having  received  from  them  great  hospitahty  in- 
cidental to  his  commanding  the  ship  of  war  which  carried 
part  of  the  American  exhibition  to  the  World's  Fair  of  1851. 
An  ^^Et  tu,  Brute  ^^  expression  came  over  his  face,  as  he 
sank  back  with  a  sorrowful  exclamation  in  the  stern-sheets 
of  the  barge,  which,  as  nautical  convention  requires,  was 
lying  motionless,  oars  horizontal,  a  ship's  -  length  away; 
when,  lo  and  behold,  as  a  kind  of  appendix  to  the  previous 
proceedings,  bang!  bang!  went  two  more  guns,  filfing  the 
baker's  dozen.  It  was,  of  course,  somewhat  Hmping,  but 
the  apology  was  sufficient. 

Salutes  are  as  Hable  to  accidents  as  are  other  affairs 
of  well-regulated  households,  and  a  fittle  more  so;  a  gmi 
misses  fire,  or  somebody  counts  wrong,  or  what  not.  On 
the  Congress  we  rarely  had  trouble,  for  the  greatest  number 
of  guns  is  twenty-one — a  national  salute — and  on  our  main 
deck  we  had  thirty,  any  part  of  which  could  be  ready.  If 
one  missed  fire,  the  gun  next  abaft  stepped  in.  If  near 
enough,  you  might  hear  the  primer  snap,  but  the  error  of 
interv^al  was  barely  appreciable — the  effect  stood.  Laymen 
may  not  know  that  the  manner  of  the  salute  was,  and  is, 

110 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

for  the  officer  conducting  it  to  give  the  orders,  "  Starboard, 
fire!"  "Port,  tire!"  the  discharges  thus  ranging  from  for- 
ward, aft,  alternately  on  each  side.  A  man  who  cannot 
trust  his  ear  times  the  interval  by  watch ;  most,  I  presume, 
trust  their  counting.  I  once  underwent  an  amusing  faux 
pas  in  this  matter  of  counting.  Of  course,  the  count  is  a 
serious  matter;  gun  for  gun  is  diplomatically  as  important 
as  an  eye  for  an  eye.  My  captain  had  heard  that  an  ex- 
cellent precaution  was  to  provide  one's  self  with  a  number 
of  dried  beans — ^with  which,  needless  to  say,  a  ship  abounds 
— ^corresponding  to  the  number  of  guns.  The  receipt  ran : 
Put  them  all  in  one  pocket,  and  with  each  gun  shift  a  bean 
to  the  other  pocket.  He  proposed  this  to  me,  but  I  de- 
murred; I  feared  I  might  get  mixed  on  the  beans  and  omit 
to  shift  one.  He  did  not  press  me,  but  when  I  began  to 
perform  on  the  main  deck  he  stood  near  the  hatch  on  the 
deck  above,  duly — or  unduly— provided  with  beans.  It 
was  a  national  salute;  to  the  port.  When  I  finished,  he 
called  to  me:  "You  have  only  fired  twenty  guns."  "No, 
sir,"  I  replied;  "  twenty-one."  "  No,"  he  repeated, "  twenty; 
for  I  have  a  bean  left."  "All  right!"  I  returned,  and  I 
banged  an  appendix;  after  which,  upon  counting,  it  was 
found  the  captain  had  twenty-two  beans  and  the  French 
twenty- two  guns  —  a  "tiger"  which  I  hope  they  appre- 
ciated, but  am  sure  they  did  not  "return." 

Our  flag-officer  was  a  veteran  of  1812.  He  had  evident- 
ly been  very  handsome,  to  which  possibly  he  owed  three 
successive  wives,  the  last  one  much  younger  than  himself. 
Now,  in  his  sixties,  he  was  still  light  in  his  movements.  He 
had  a  queer  way  of  tripping  along  on  the  balls  of  his  feet, 
with  a  half-shuffiing  movement,  his  hands  buried  in  his 
pockets,  with  the  thumbs  out.  He  was,  I  fear,  the  sort 
of  man  capable  of  wearing  a  frock-coat  unbuttoned.  It 
was  amusing  to  see  him  walk  the  poop  with  the  captain  of 
the  ship,  who  out  topped  him  by  a  head,  was  ponderous 

111 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

in  dimensions,  with  wide  tread  and  feet  like  an  elephant's; 
yet,  it  was  said  by  those  who  had  seen,  a  beautiful  waltzer. 
His  son,  who  was  his  clerk,  used  to  say:  "The  old  man's 
feet  really  aren't  so  big,  if  he  would  not  wear  such  shoes." 
When  his  shoes  were  sent  up  to  dry  in  the  sun,  as  all  sea- 
shoes  must  be  at  times,  the  midshipmen  knew  the  occasion 
as  a  gunboat  parade.  The  flag-officer  was  styled  familiar- 
ly in  the  navy  by  the  epithet  Buckey ;  I  never  saw  it  spelled, 
but  the  pronunciation  was  as  given.  Report  ran  that  he 
thus  called  every  one,  promiscuously;  but,  although  I  was 
his  aide  for  nearly  six  months,  I  only  heard  him  use  it 
once  or  twice.     Possibly  he  was  breaking  a  bad  habit. 

Judged  by  my  experience,  which  I  beheve  was  no  worse 
than  the  average,  the  life  of  an  aide  is  literally  that  of  a 
dog;  it  was  chiefly  foflowing  round,  or  else  sitting  in  a  boat 
at  a  landing,  just  as  a  dog  waits  outside  for  his  master,  to 
all  hours  of  the  night,  till  your  superior  comes  down  from 
his  dinner  or  out  from  the  theatre.  A  coachman  has  a 
"cinch,"  to  use  our  present-day  slang;  for  he  has  only  his 
own  behavior  to  look  to,  while  the  aide  has  to  see  that  the 
dozen  bargemen  also  behave,  don't  skip  up  the  wharf  for  a 
drink,  and  then  forget  the  way  back  to  the  boat.  If  one 
or  two  do,  no  matter  how  good  his  dinner  may  have  been, 
the  remarks  of  the  flag-officer  are  apt  to  be  unpleasant; 
not  to  speak  of  subsequent  interviews  with  the  first-lieu- 
tenant. I  trace  to  those  days  a  horror  which  has  never 
left  me  of  keeping  servants  waiting.  Flag-officers  appar- 
ently never  heard  that  punctuality  is  the  politeness  of 
kings.  There  are,  however,  occasional  compensations; 
bones,  I  might  say,  pursuing  the  dog  analogy.  One  inci- 
dent very  interesting  to  me  occurred.  The  flag-officer  had 
a  well-deserved  reputation  for  great  bravery,  and  in  his 
early  career  had  fought  two  or  three  duels.  One  of  these 
had  been  at  Rio  Janeiro,  on  an  island  in  the  harbor,  and 
he  had  there  killed  his  man.    On  this  occasion,  the  barge 

112 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER   GRADUATION     . 

being  manned  and  I  along,  we  pulled  over  to  the  island. 
In  the  thirty  intervening  years  it  must  have  changed  great- 
ly, for  many  buildings  were  now  on  it;  but  his  memo- 
ry evidently  was  busy  and  serving  him  well.  He  walked 
round  meditatively,  uttering  a  low,  humming  whistle,  his 
hands  in  his  pockets,  his  secretary  and  myself  following. 
At  last  he  reached  a  point  where  he  stopped  and  mused 
for  some  moments,  after  which  he  went  quietly  and  silently 
to  the  boat.  Not  a  word  passed  from  him  to  us  during 
our  stay,  nor  the  subsequent  pull  to  shore;  but  there  can 
be  little  doubt  where  his  thoughts  were.  It  is  right  to 
add  that  on  the  occasion  in  question  not  only  was  the 
provocation  all  on  the  other  side,  but  it  was  endured  by 
him  to  the  utmost  that  the  standards  of  1830  would  permit. 
To  my  aideship  also  I  owed  an  unusual  opportunity  to 
see  an  incident  of  bygone  times — the  heaving  down  of  a 
fair-sized  ship  of  war.  One  of  our  sloops,  of  some  eight 
hundred  tons'  burden,  bound  to  China,  had  put  into  Rio  for 
repairs :  a  leak  of  no  special  danger,  but  so  near  the  keel  as 
to'  demand  examination.  It  might  get  worse.  As  yet  Rio 
had  no  dry-dock,  and  so  she  must  be  hove  down.  This 
operation,  probably  never  known  in  these  days,  when  dry- 
docks  are  to  be  found  in  all  quarters,  consisted  in  heeling 
the  ship  over,  by  heavy  purchases  attached  to  the  top  of 
the  lower  masts,  until  the  keel,  or  at  least  so  much  of  the 
side  as  was  necessary,  was  out  of  water.  As  the  leverage 
on  the  masts  was  extreme,  almost  everything  had  to  be 
taken  out  of  the  ship,  guns  included,  to  lighten  her  to  the 
utmost;  and  the  spars  themselves  were  heavily  backed  to 
bear  the  strain.  The  upper  works,  usually  out  of  water, 
must  on  the  down  side  be  closed  and  protected  against  the 
proposed  immersion.  In  short,  preparation  was  minute 
as  well  as  extensive.  In  the  old  days,  when  docks  were 
rare,  and  long  voyages  would  be  made  in  regions  without 
local  resources,  a  ship  would  be  hove  down  two  or  three 

113 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

times  in  a  cruise,  to  clean  her  uncoppered  bottom  or  to  see 
what  damage  worms  might  be  effecting.  When  frequently 
done,  familiarity  doubtless  made  it  comparatively  easy; 
but  by  1859  it  had  become  very  exceptional.  I  have  never 
seen  another  instance.  She  was  taken  to  a  sheltered  cove, 
in  one  of  those  picturesque  bights  which  abomid  in  the 
harbor  of  Rio,  the  most  beautiful  bay  in  the  world,  and 
there,  in  repeated  visits  by  our  flag-officer,  I  saw  most 
stages  of  the  process.  Technical  details  I  will  not  inflict 
upon  the  reader,  but  there  was  one  amusing  anecdote  told 
me  by  oiu-  carpenter,  who  as  a  senior  in  his  business  was 
much  to  the  fore.  Some  general  overhauling  was  also  re- 
quired, and  among  other  things  the  sloop's  captain  pointed 
out  that  the  side-board  in  the  cabin  was  not  well  secured. 
"  I  have  sometimes  to  get  up  two  or  three  times  in  the  night 
to  see  to  it,"  he  said.  He  had  been  one  of  the  restored 
victims  of  the  Retiring  Board  of  1855,  and  had  the  reputa- 
tion of  loiowing  that  sideboards  exist  for  other  purposes 
than  merely  being  secured;  hence,  at  this  pathetic  remark, 
the  carpenter  caught  a  wink,  "on  the  fly,"  as  it  passed 
from  the  flag-officer  to  the  captain  of  the  Congress  and 
back  again.  The  commander  invalided  soon  after,  and 
the  sloop  went  on  her  way  to  China  under  the  charge  of 
the  first  lieutenant. 

The  flag-officer,  though  not  a  man  of  particular  distinc- 
tion, possessed  strongly  that  kind  of  individuahty  which 
among  seamen  of  the  days  before  steam,  when  the  world 
was  less  small  and  less  frequented,  was  more  common  than 
it  is  now,  when  we  so  cluster  that,  like  shot  in  a  barrel, 
we  are  rounded  and  polished  by  mere  attrition.  For- 
merly, characteristics  had  more  chance  to  emphasize  them- 
selves and  throw  out  angles,  as  I  believe  they  still  do  in 
long  polar  seclusions.  Withal,  there  came  from  him  from 
time  to  time  a  whiff  of  the  naval  atmosphere  of  the  past, 
like  that  from  a  drawer  where  lavender  has  been.    Going 

114 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION. 

ashore  onco  with  him  for  a  constitutional,  ho  caught  siglit 
of  a  necktie  which  my  fond  mother  had  given  me.  It 
was  black,  yes;  but  with  variations.  "Humph!"  he  ejacu- 
lated; "don't  wear  a  thing  like  that  with  me.  You  look 
like  a  privateersman."  There  spoke  the  rivalries  of  1812. 
There  had  not  been  a  privateersman  in  the  United  States 
for  near  a  half-century.  A  great  chum  of  his  was  the 
senior  surgeon  of  the  frigate,  a  man  near  his  own  years. 
Leaving  the  ship  together  for  a  walk,  the  surgeon,  crossing 
the  deck,  smudged  his  white  trousers  with  paint  or  coal- 
tar,  the  free  application  of  which  in  unexpected  places  is 
one  of  the  snares  attending  a  well-appearing  man-of-war. 
"Never  mind,  doctor,"  said  the  flag-officer,  consolingly, 
falhng  back  hke  Sancho  Panza  on  an  ancient  proverb; 
"remember  the  two  dirtiest  things  in  the  world  are  a 
clean  ship  and  a  clean  soldier"  —  paint  and  pipe -clay, 
to  wit. 

Another  trait  was  an  extensive,  though  somewhat  mild, 
profanity  which  took  no  account  of  ladies'  presence,  al- 
though he  was  almost  exaggeratedly  deferential  to  them, 
as  well  as  cordially  courteous  to  all.  His  speech  was  like 
his  gait,  tripping.  I  remember  the  arrival  of  the  first  steam- 
er of  a  new  French  line  to  Rio.  Steam  mail-service  was 
there  and  then  exceptional;  most  of  our  home  letters  still 
came  by  sailing-vessel;  consequently,  this  was  an  event, 
and  brought  the  inevitable  banquet.  He  was  present;  I 
also,  as  his  aide,  seated  nearly  opposite  him,  with  two  or 
three  other  of  our  officers.  He  was  called  to  respond  to  a 
toast.  "Gentlemen  and  ladies!"  he  began.  "No!  Ladies 
and  gentlemen  —  ladies  always  first,  d — n  me!"  What 
more  he  said  I  do  not  recall,  although  we  all  loyally  ap- 
l)lauded  him.  Many  years  afterwards,  when  he  was  old 
and  feeble,  an  acquaintance  of  mine  met  him,  and  he  be- 
gan to  tell  of  the  tombstone  of  some  person  in  whom  he 
was  interested.     After  various  particulars,  he  startled  his 

115 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

auditor  with  the  general  descriptive  coruscation,  "It  was 
covered  with  angels  and  cherubs,  and  the  h — 1  knows 
what  else." 

It  would  be  easily  possible  to  overdraw  the  personal 
peculiarities  of  the  seamen.  I  remember  nothing  corre- 
sponding at  all  to  the  extravagances  instanced  in  my  early 
reading  of  Colburn's;  such  as  a  frigate's  watch — say  one 
hmidred  and  fifty  men — on  liberty  in  Portsmouth,  Eng- 
land, buying  up  all  the  gold-laced  cocked  hats  in  the  place, 
and  appearing  with  them  at  the  theatre.  Many,  however, 
who  have  seen  a  homeward-bomid  ship  leaving  port,  the 
lower  rigging  of  her  three  masts  crowded  with  seamen 
from  deck  to  top,  returning  roundly  the  cheers  given  by 
all  the  ships-of-war  present,  foreign  as  well  as  national,  as 
she  passes,  have  witnessed  also  the  time-honored  ceremony 
of  her  crew  throwing  their  hats  overboard  with  the  last 
cheer.  This  corresponded  to  the  breaking  of  glasses  after 
a  favorite  toast,  or  to  the  bursts  of  enthusiasm  in  a  Span- 
ish bull-ring,  where  Andalusian  caps  fly  by  dozens  mto 
the  arena.  There,  however,  the  bull-fighter  returns  them, 
with  many  bows;  but  those  of  the  homeward-bounders  be- 
come the  inheritance  of  the  boatmen  of  the  port.  The  mid- 
shipman of  the  watch  being  stationed  on  the  forecastle,  my 
intimates  among  the  crew  were  the  staid  seamen,  approach- 
ing middle-age;  allotted  there,  where  they  would  have  least 
going  aloft.  The  two  captains  of  the  forecastle — one,  I 
shrewdly  think,  Dutch,  the  other  English,  though  both  had 
EngUsh  names — would  engage  in  conversation  with  me  at 
times,  mingling  deference  and  conscious  superior  experience 
in  due  proportion.  One,  I  remember,  just  before  the  War  of 
Secession  began,  was  greatly  exercised  about  the  oncom- 
ing troubles.  The  causes  of  the  difficulty  and  the  political 
complications  disturbed  him  little;  but  the  probable  pros- 
pect of  the  heads  of  the  rebellion  losing  their  property  en- 
grossed his  mind.    He  constantly  returned  to  this;  it  would 

116 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

be  confiscated,  doubtless;  yet  the  assertion  was  an  evident 
inipli(Ml  query  to  nie,  to  which  I  could  give  no  positive 
answer.  As  is  kifbwn,  few  of  the  seamen,  as  of  private 
soldiers  in  the  army,  sympathized  sufficiently  with  the  Con- 
federacy to  join  it.  Indeed,  the  vaunt  I  have  heard  attrib- 
uted to  Southern  officers  of  the  old  navy,  which,  though 
never  uttered  in  my  ears,  was  very  consonant  to  the  South- 
ern spirit  as  I  then  knew  it,  that  Southern  officers  with 
Yankee  seamen  could  beat  the  world,  testified  at  least  to 
the  probable  attitude  of  the  latter  in  a  war  of  sections. 
Considering  the  great  naval  names  of  the  past,  Preble, 
Hull,  Decatur,  Bainbridge,  Stewart,  Porter,  Perry,  and 
Macdonough,  the  two  most  Southern  of  whom  came  from 
Delaware  and  Maryland,  this  ante-bellum  assurance  was, 
to  say  the  least,  self-confident;  but  Farragut  was  a  South- 
erner. The  other  captain  of  the  forecastle  was  less  com- 
municative, taciturn  by  nature;  but  there  ran  of  him  a 
story  of  amusing  simplicity.  It  occurred  to  him  on  one 
occasion  that  he  would  lay  under  contribution  the  re- 
sources of  the  ship's  small  library.  Accordingly  he  went 
to  the  chaplain,  in  whose  care  it  was;  but  as  he  was 
wholly  in  the  dark  as  to  what  particular  book  he  might  like, 
the  chaplain,  after  two  or  three  tries,  suggested  a  Life 
of  Paul  Jones.  Yes,  he  thought  he  would  like  that.  "  You 
see,  I  was  shipmates  with  him  some  cruises  ago;  he  was 

with  me  in  the  main-top  of  the  ." 

Another  forecastle  intimate  of  mine  was  the  boatswain, 
who,  like  most  boatswains  of  that  day,  had  served  his  time 
before  the  mast.  As  is  the  case  with  many  self-made  men, 
he,  on  his  small  scale,  was  very  conscious  of  the  fact,  and 
of  general  consequent  desert.  A  favorite  saying  with  him 
was,  "Thanks  to  my  own  industry  and  my  wife's  economy, 
I  am  now  well  beforehand  with  the  world."  Like  a  dis- 
tinguished officer  higher  in  rank  of  that  day,  of  whom  it 
was  said  that  he  remembered  nothing  later  than  1813,  my 

117 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

boatswain's  memory  dwelt  much  in  the  thirties,  though  he 
aclviiowledged  more  recent  experiences.  His  attitude  tow- 
ards steam,  essentially  conservative,  waslfetrictly  and  amus- 
ingly official.  He  had  served  on  board  one  steamer,  the 
San  Jacinto;  and  what  had  pleased  him  was  that  the  yards 
could  be  squared  and  rigging  hauled  taut — his  o^\'Il  special 
function — before  entering  port,  so  that  in  those  respects 
the  job  had  been  done  when  the  anchor  dropped.  One  of 
his  pet  stories,  frequently  brought  forward,  concerned  a 
schooner  in  which  he  had  served  in  the  earlier  period,  and 
will  appeal  to  those  who  Imow  how  dear  a  fresh  coat  of 
pamt  is  to  a  seaman's  heart.  She  had  just  been  thus  deco- 
rated within  and  without,  and  was  standing  into  a  West- 
Indian  port  to  show  her  fine  feathers,  when  a  sudden  flaw 
of  wind  knocked  her  off,  and  over,  dangerously  close  to  a 
rocky  point.  The  first  order  given  was,  "  Stand  clear  of  the 
paint-work!" — an  instance  of  the  ruling  passion  strong  in 
extremis.  He  had  another  woesome  accomit  of  a  sloop-of- 
war  in  which  he  had  gone  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan. 
The  difficult  navigation  and  balky  winds  made  the  passage 
protracted  for  a  sailing-vessel;  all  were  put  on  short  rations, 
and  the  day  before  she  entered  a  Chilian  port  the  bread- 
room  was  swept  to  the  last  crumbs.  "  I  often  could  not 
sleep  for  hunger  when  I  turned  in."  In  the  same  ship, 
the  watch-officers  falling  short,  through  ilhiess  or  suspen- 
sion, the  captain  set  a  second  lieutenant  of  marines  to  take  a 
day  watch.  Being,  as  he  supposed,  put  to  do  something, 
he  naturally  wanted  to  do  it,  if  he  only  knew  what  it  was, 
and  how  it  was  to  be  done.  The  master  of  the  ship  was 
named  Peter  Wager,  and  to  him,  when  taking  sights,  the 
marine  appealed.  "Peter,  what's  the  use  of  being  officer 
of  the  deck  if  you  don't  do  anything?  Tell  me  something 
to  do."  "Well,"  Peter  replied,  "you  might  send  all  the 
watch  aft  and  take  in  the  mizzen-royal"— the  mizzen-royal 
being  the  smallest  of  all  sails,  requiring  about  two  ordi- 

118 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

nary  men,  and  in  no  wise  missed  when  in.  Thiis  was  prac- 
tical "tales  for  the  marines." 

This  boatswain  afterwards  saw  the  last  of  the  Congress, 
when  the  Merrimac — or  rather  the  Virginia,  to  give  her  her 
Confederate  name — wasted  time  murdering  a  ship  already 
dead,  aground  and  on  fire.  He  often  afterwards  spun  me 
the  yarn;  for  I  liked  the  old  man,  and  not  infrequently 
went  to  see  him  in  later  days.  He  had  borne  good-hu- 
moredly  the  testiness  with  which  a  yomigster  is  at  times 
prone  to  assert  himself  against  what  he  fancies  interference, 
and  I  had  appreciated  the  rebuke.  The  Congress  disaster 
was  a  very  big  and  striking  incident  in  the  career  of  any 
person,  and  it  both  ministered  to  his  self-esteem  and  pro- 
videtl  the  evening  of  his  life  with  material  for  talk.  Un- 
happily, I  have  to  confess,  as  even  Boswell  at  times  did, 
I  took  no  notes,  and  cannot  reproduce  that  which  to  me 
is  of  absorbing  interest,  the  individual  impressions  of  a 
vivid  catastrophe. 

The  boatswain  was  one  of  the  four  who  in  naval  phrase 
were  termed  "warrant"  officers,  in  distinction  from  the 
heutenants  and  those  above,  who  held  their  offices  by 
"commission."  The  three  others  were  the  gunner,  car- 
penter, and  sailmaker,  names  which  sufficiently  indicate 
their  several  functions.  In  the  hierarchical  classification 
of  the  navy,  as  then  established  by  long  tradition,  the  mid- 
shipmen, although  on  their  way  to  a  commission,  were 
warrant  officers  also;  and  in  consequence,  though  they  had 
a  separate  mess,  they  had  the  same  smokmg-place,  the 
effect  of  which  in  estabhshing  a  community  of  social  inter- 
course every  smoker  will  recognize.  I  suppose,  if  there 
had  been  three  sides  to  a  ship,  there  would  have  been 
three  smoking-rendezvous;  but  in  the  crude  barbarism  of 
those  days — as  it  will  now  probably  be  considered — both 
commissioned  and  warrant  officers  had  no  place  to  smoke 
except  away  forward  on  the  gun-deck — the  "eyes"  of  the 

119 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

ship,  as  the  spot  was  appropriately  named;  the  superiors 
on  the  honor  side,  which  on  the  gun-deck  was  the  port, 
the  midshipmen  and  warrant  officers  on  the  starboard. 
The  position  was  not  without  advantages,  when  riding 
head  to  wind,  in  hot  tropical  weather;  but  under  way, 
close-hauled,  with  a  stiff  breeze,  a  good  deal  of  salt  water 
found  its  way  in,  especially  if  the  jackasses  were  in  the 
hawse-holes.  But  under  such  conditions  we  sat  there 
serenely,  the  water  coursing  in  a  flowing  stream  under  our 
chairs  if  the  ship  had  a  steady  heel,  or  rushing  madly  from 
side  to  side  if  she  lurched  to  windward.  The  stupidity  of 
it  was  that  we  didn't  even  know  we  were  uncomfortable, 
and  by  all  sound  philosophy  were  so  far  better  off  than 
our  better  accommodated  successors.  What  was  more  an- 
noying was  the  getting  forward  at  night,  when  the  ham- 
mocks were  in  place;  but  even  for  that  occasional  com- 
pensations offered.  I  remember  once,  when  making  this 
awkward  journey,  hearing  a  colloquy  between  two  young 
seamen  just  about  to  swing  themselves  into  bed  at  nine 
o'clock.  "I  say,  Bill,"  said  one,  with  voluptuous  satis- 
faction, "two  watches  in,^  and  beans  to-morrow."  Can 
any  philosophy  soar  higher  than  that,  in  contentment  with 
small  things?  Plain  living  and  high  thinking!  Diogenes 
wasn't  in  it. 

As  the  warrant  officers  of  the  ship  were  of  the  genera- 
tion before  us,  we  heard  from  their  lips  many  racy  and 
entertaining  experiences  of  the  former  navy,  most  of  which 
naturally  have  escaped  me,  while  others  I  have  dropped  all 
along  the  line  of  my  preceding  reminiscences  where  they 
seemed  to  come  in  aptly.  Each  of  the  four  had  very  dif- 
ferent characteristics,  and  I  fancy  they  did  not  agree  very 

^  Perhaps  it  is  better  to  explain  that  there  are  three  watches  from 
8  P.M.  to  8  A.M.;  the  two  watches  into  which  the  crew  were  di^^ded 
had  on  alternate  nights  one  watch,  or  two  watches,  on  deck.  This 
sybarite  was  foretasting  two  watches  below. 

120 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

well  together.  All  have  long  since  gone  to  their  rest;  peace 
be  with  them!  Four  is  an  awkwardly  small  number  for 
a  mess-table  of  equals;  friction  is  emphasized  by  narrow- 
ness of  sphere.  "I  didn't  like  the  man,"  said  the  boat- 
swain afterwards  to  me  of  the  sailmaker,  narrating  the  de- 
struction of  the  Congress;  "but  he  is  brave,  brave  as  can 
be.  Getting  the  wounded  over  the  side  to  put  them  ashore, 
he  was  as  cool  as  though  nothing  was  happening.  The  great 
guns  weren't  so  bad,"  he  continued — "but  the  rifle-bullets 
that  came  singing  along  in  clouds  like  mosquitoes!  Yah!" 
he  used  to  snap,  each  time  he  told  me  the  tale,  slapping 
his  ears  right  and  left,  as  one  does  at  the  hum  of  those  in- 
trusive insects.  He  did  not  like  the  carpenter,  either,  for 
reasons  of  another  kind.  They  were  both  humorists,  but 
of  a  different  order.  Indeed,  I  don't  think  that  the  boat- 
swain, though  slightly  sardonic  in  expression,  suspected 
himself  of  humor;  but  he  really  came  at  times  pretty  close 
to  wit,  if  that  be  a  perception  of  incongruities,  as  I  have 
heard  said.  He  was  telling  one  day  of  some  mishap  that 
befell  a  vessel,  wherein  the  officer  in  charge  showed  the 
happy  blending  of  composure  and  ignorance  we  sometimes 
fuid;  a  condition  concerning  which  a  sufferer  once  said  of 
himself,  "I  never  open  my  mouth  but  I  put  my  foot  in 
it;"  a  confusion  of  metaphor,  and  suggestion  of  physical 
contortion,  not  often  so  neatly  combined  in  a  dozen  words. 
The  boatswain  commented:  "He  didn't  mind.  He  didn't 
know  what  to  do,  but  there  he  stood,  looking  all  the  time 
as  happy  as  a  duck  barefooted."  A  duck  shod,  and  the 
consequent  expression  of  its  countenance,  presents  to 
my  mind  infinite  entertainment.  Our  first  lieutenant, 
mider  whom  immediately  he  worked,  was  a  great  trial  to 
him.  He  was  an  elderly  man,  as  first  lieutenants  of  big 
ships  were  then,  great  with  the  paint-brush  and  tar-pot, 
traces  of  which  were  continually  surprising  one's  clothes; 
mighty  also  in  that  lavish  swashing  of  sea-water  which  is 

121 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

called  washing  decks,  and  in  the  tropics  is  not  so  bad;  but 
otherwise,  while  he  was  one  of  the  kindliest  of  men,  the  go 
was  pretty  well  out  of  him.  "Yes,"  the  boatswain  used  to 
say  grimly,— he  seldom  smiled, — "  the  first  lieutenant  is  like 
an  old  piece  of  soap — half  wore  out.  Go  day,  come  day, 
God  send  Sunday;  that's  he." 

The  carpenter,  on  the  other  hand,  was  always  on  a  broad 
grin — or  rather  roar.  He  breathed  farce,  both  in  story 
and  feature.  Unhke  the  boatswain,  who  was  middle-sized 
and  very  trig,  as  well  as  scrupulously  neat,  the  carpenter 
was  over  six  feet,  broad  in  proportion,  with  big,  round,  red, 
close-shaven  face,  framed  with  abundance  of  white  hair. 
He  looked  not  unlike  one's  fancies  of  the  typical  Eng- 
lish yeoman,  while  withal  having  a  strong  Yankee  flavor. 
Wearing  always  a  frock-coat,  buttoned  up  as  high  as  any 
one  then  buttoned,  he  carried  with  it  a  bluff  heartiness  of 
manner,  which  gave  an  impression  of  sohdity  not,  I  fear, 
wholly  sustained  on  demand.  There  was  no  such  doubt 
about  the  fun,  however,  or  his  own  huge  enjoyment  of  his 
own  stories,  accompanied  by  a  rimning  fire  of  guffaws, 
which  pointed  the  appreciation  we  easily  gave.  But  it 
was  all  of  the  same  character,  broad  farce;  accounts  of  mis- 
haps such  as  befall  in  children's  pantomimes, — which  their 
seniors  enjoy,  too, — practical  jokes  equally  ludicrous,  and 
resulting  situations  to  match.  Comical  as  such  tales  were 
at  the  time,  and  many  a  pleasant  pipeful  of  Lynchburg 
tobacco  in  Powhatan  clay  though  they  whiled  away,  they 
lacked  the  catching  and  fixing  power  of  the  boatswain's 
shrewd  sayings.  I  can  remember  distinctly  only  one,  of  two 
small  midshipmen,  shipmates  of  his  in  a  sloop-of-war  of 
long-gone  days,  who  had  a  deadly  quarrel,  calling  for  blood. 
A  duel  ashore  might  in  those  times  have  been  arranged, 
unknown  to  superiors — they  often  were;  but  the  necessity 
for  speedy  satisfaction  was  too  urgent,  and  they  could  not 
wait  for  the  end  of  the  voyage.     Consequently,  they  de- 

122 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

terminecl  to  fight  from  the  two  ends  of  the  spritsail-yard,  a 
horizontal  spar  which  crossed  the  bowsprit  end,  and  gave,  or 
could  admit,  the  required  number  of  paces.  Seconds,  I  pre- 
sume, were  omitted;  they  might  have  attracted  imnecessary 
attention,  and  on  the  yard  would  have  been  in  the  way  of 
shot,  miless  they  sat  behind  their  several  principals,  like 
damsels  on  a  pillion.  So  these  two  mites,  procuring  each 
a  loaded  pistol,  crawled  out  quietly  to  their  respective 
places,  straddled  the  yard,  and  were  proceeding  to  business, 
when  the  boatswain  caught  sight  of  them  from  his  fre- 
quent stand-point  between  the  knightheads.  He  ran  out, 
got  between  them  in  the  line  of  fire,  and  from  this  position 
of  tactical  advantage,  having  collared  first  one  and  then  the 
other,  brought  them  both  in  on  the  forecastle,  where  he 
knocked  their  heads  together.  The  last  action,  I  fancy, 
must  be  considered  an  embellishment,  necessary  to  the 
dramatic  completeness  of  the  incident,  though  it  may  at 
least  be  admitted  it  would  not  have  been  incongruous.  In 
telling  this  occurrence,  which,  pmictuated  by  his  own 
laughter,  bore  frequent  repetition,  the  carpenter  used  to 
give  the  names  of  the  heroes.  One  I  have  forgotten.  The 
other  I  knew  in  after  life  and  middle-age,  still  small  of 
stature,  with  a  red  face,  in  outline  much  hke  a  paroquet's. 
He  was  not  a  bad  fellow;  but  his  first  lieutenant,  a  very 
competent  critic,  used  to  say  that  what  he  did  not  know 
of  seamanship  would  fill  a  large  book. 

At  first  thought  it  seems  somewhat  singular  that  the  six 
lieutenants  of  the  ship  presented  no  such  aggregate  of 
idiosyncrasies  as  did  the  four  warrant  officers.  It  was  not 
by  any  means  because  we  did  not  know  them  well,  and 
mingle  among  them  with  comparative  frequency.  Mid- 
shipmen, we  travelled  from  one  side  to  the  other;  here  at 
home,  there  guests,  but  to  both  admitted  freely.  But, 
come  to  think  of  it  more  widely,  the  distinction  I  here  note 
must  have  had  a  foundation  in  conditions.    My  acquaint- 

■    123 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

ancc  with  Marryat,  who  Uved  the  naval  hfe  as  no  other  sea 
author  has,  is  now  somewhat  remote,  but  was  once  inti- 
mate as  well  as  extensive ;  and  recollection  deceives  me  if  the 
same  remark  does  not  apply  to  his  characters.  He  has  a 
full  gallery  of  captains  and  lieutenants,  each  differing  from 
the  other;  but  his  greatest  successes  in  portrayal,  those 
that  take  hold  of  the  memory,  are  his  warrant  officers — 
boatswains,  gmmers,  and  carpenters.  The  British  navy 
did  not  give  sailmakers  this  promotion.  By-products 
though  they  are,  rather  than  leading  characters,  Boat- 
swain Chucks,  whom  Marryat  takes  off  the  stage  midway, 
as  though  too  much  to  sustain  to  the  end.  Carpenter  Mud- 
dle, and  Gunner  Tallboys,  with  his  aspirations  towards 
navigating,  sketched  but  briefly  and  in  bold  outline  as  they 
are,  survive  most  of  their  superiors  in  clear  indiyjduality 
and  amusing  eccentricity.  Peter  Simple,  and  even  Jack 
Easy  himself,  whose  traits  are  more  personal  than  nautical, 
are  less  vivid  to  memory.  Cooper  also,  who  caricatures 
rather  than  reproduces  life,  seeks  here  his  fittest  subjects — 
Boltrope  and  Trysail — warrant  masters,  superior  in  grade 
indeed  to  the  others,  but  closely  identified  with  them  on 
board  ship,  and  essentially  of  the  same  class.  Such  coinci- 
dence betokens  a  more  pronounced  individuality  in  the 
subject-matter.  There  have  been  particular  eccentric  com- 
missioned officers,  of  whom  quaint  stories  have  descended; 
but  in  early  days,  originality  was  the  class-mark  of  those  of 
whom  I  am  speaking,  as  many  an  anecdote  witnesses.  I 
fancy  few  will  have  seen  this,  which  I  picked  up  in  my 
miscellaneous  nautical  readings.  A  boatswain,  who  had 
been  with  Cook  in  his  voj^ages,  chanced  upon  one  of  those 
fervent  Methodist  meetings  common  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  preacher,  in  illustration  of  the  abundance 
of  the  Divine  mercy,  affirmed  that  there  was  hope  for 
the  worst,  even  for  the  boatswain  of  a  man-of-war;  where- 
upon the  boatswain  sprang  to  the  platform  and  adminis- 

124 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

tered  a  drubbing.  True  or  not,  offence  and  punishment 
testify  to  public  estimate  as  to  character  and  action;  to 
a  natural  exaggeration  of  feature  which  lends  itself  read- 
ily to  reproduction.  This  was  due,  probably,  to  a  more 
contracted  sphere  in  early  life,  and  afterwards  less  of  that 
social  opportunity,  in  the  course  of  which  angular  projec- 
tions are  rounded  off  and  personal  peculiarities  sof  tenetl  by 
various  contact.  The  same  cause  would  naturally  occasion 
more  friction  and  disagreement  among  themselves. 

Thus  the  several  lieutenants  of  our  frigate  call  for  no 
special  characterization.  If  egotism,  the  most  amusing  of 
traits  where  it  is  not  offensive,  existed  among  them  to  any 
unusual  degree,  it  was  modified  and  concealed  by  the  ac- 
quired exterior  of  social  usage.  Their  interests  also  were 
wider.  With  them,  talk  was  less  of  self  and  personal  ex- 
perience, and  more  upon  subjects  of  general  interest,  pro- 
fessional or  external;  the  outlook  was  wider.  But  while  all 
this  tended  to  make  them  more  instructive,  and  in  so  far 
more  useful  companions,  it  also  took  from  the  salt  of  in- 
dividuaUty  somewhat  of  its  pungency.  It  did  not  fall  to 
them,  either,  to  become  afterwards  especially  conspicuous 
in  the  nearing  War  of  Secession.  They  were  good  seamen 
and  gallant  men;  knew  their  duty  and  did  it;  but  either 
opportunity  failed  them,  or  they  failed  opportunity;  from 
my  knowledge  of  them,  probably  the  former.  As  Nelson 
once  wrote :  "  A  sea  officer  cannot  form  plans  like  those  of 
a  land  officer;  his  object  is  to  embrace  the  happy  moment 
which  now  and  then  offers;  it  may  be  this  day,  not  for  a 
month,  and  perhaps  never."  So  also  Farragut  is  reported 
to  have  said  of  a  conspicuous  shortcoming :  ''  Every  man 
has  one  chance;  he  has  had  his  and  lost  it."  Certainly,  by 
failure  that  man  lost  promotion  with  its  chances.  It  is 
somewhat  congruous  to  this  train  of  thought  that  Smith, 
whom  I  have  so  often  mentioned,  said  one  day  to  me :  "  If 
I  had  a  son  (he  was  umnarried),  I  would  put  him  in  the 
9  125 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

navy  without  hesitation.  I  believe  there  is  a  day  coming 
shortly  when  the  opportunities  for  a  naval  officer  will  ex- 
ceed any  that  our  country  has  yet  known."  He  did  not 
say  what  contingencies  he  had  in  mind;  scarcely  those  of 
the  War  of  Secession,  large  looming  though  it  already  was, 
for,  like  most  of  us,  he  doubtless  refused  to  entertain  that 
sorrowful  possibility.  As  with  many  a  prophecy,  his  was 
of  wider  scope  than  he  thought;  and,  though  in  part  ful- 
filled, more  yet  remains  on  the  laps  of  the  gods.  He  him- 
self, perhaps  the  ablest  of  this  group,  was  cut  off  too  early 
to  contribute  more  than  an  heroic  memory;  but  that  must 
live  in  naval  annals,  enshrined  in  his  father's  phrase,  along 
with  Craven's  "After  you,  pilot,"  when  the  Tecumseh  sank. 


VI 

MY    FIRST     CRUISE     AFTER     GRADUATION  —  NAUTICAL 

SCENES    AND    SCENERY  — THE    APPROACH 

OF    DISUNION 

1859-lSfil 

The  absence  of  the  Congress  lasted  a  little  over  two 
years,  the  fateful  two  years  in  which  the  elements  of  strife 
in  the  United  States  were  sifting  apart  and  gathering  in 
new  combinations  for  the  tremendous  outbreak  of  1861. 
The  first  battle  of  Bull  Rmi  had  been  fought  before  she 
again  saw  a  home  port.  The  cruise  offered  little  worthy  of 
special  note.  This  story  is  one  of  commonplaces;  but  they 
are  the  commonplaces  of  conditions  which  have  passed 
away  forever,  and  some  details  are  worthy  to  be  not  en- 
tirely forgotten,  now  that  the  life  has  disappeared.  We 
were  in  contact  with  it  in  all  its  forms  and  phases;  being, 
as  midshipmen,  utilized  for  every  kind  of  miscellaneous  and 
nondescript  duty.  Our  captain  interfered  very  little  with 
us  directly,  and  I  might  almost  say  washed  his  hands  of  us. 
The  regulations  required  that  at  the  expiry  of  a  cruise  the 
commander  of  a  vessel  should  give  his  midshipmen  a  letter, 
to  be  presented  to  the  board  of  examiners  before  whom  they 
were  shortly  to  appear.  Ours,  while  certifying  to  our  gen- 
eral correct  behavior — personal  rather  than  official — limit- 
ed himself,  on  the  score  of  professional  accomplishments, 
which  should  have  been  under  constant  observance,  to  say- 
ing that,  as  we  were  soon  to  appear  before  a  board,  the  in- 
tent of  which  would  be  to  test  them,  he  forbore  an  opinion. 

127 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

This  was  even  more  non-committal  than  another  captain, 
whose  certificates  came  under  my  eye  when  myself  a  mem- 
ber of  a  board.  In  these,  after  some  very  cautious  com- 
mendation on  the  score  of  conduct,  he  added,  "I should 
have  liked  the  display  of  a  little  more  zeal."  Zeal,  the 
readers  of  Midshipman  Easy  will  remember,  is  the  naval 
universal  solvent.  Although  liable  at  times  to  be  mis- 
placed, as  Easy  found,  it  is  not  so  suspicious  a  quality  as 
Talleyrand  considered  it  to  be  in  diplomacy. 

Our  captain's  zeal  for  our  improvement  confined  itself  to 
putting  us  in  three  watches;  that  is,  every  night  we  had  to 
be  on  deck  and  duty  through  one  of  the  three  periods,  of 
four  hours  each,  into  which  the  sea  night  is  divided.    Of 
this  he  made  a  principle,  and  in  it  doubtless  found  the  sat- 
isfaction of  a  good  conscience;  he  had  done  all  that  could 
be  expected,  at  least  by  himself.     I  personally  agree  with 
Basil  Hall;  upon  the  whole,  watch  keeping  pays,  yields  more 
of  interest  than  of  disagreeables.    It  must  be  conceded  that 
it  was  unpleasant  to  be  waked  at  midnight  in  your  warm 
hammock,  told  your  hour  was  come,  that  it  was  raining  and 
blowing  hard,  that  another  reef  was  about  to  be  taken  in 
the  topsails  and  the  topgallant  yards  sent  on  deck.    Patri- 
otism and  glory  seemed  very  poor  stimulants  at  that  mo- 
ment.    Still  half  asleep,  you  tumbled,  somewhat  Hterally, 
out  of  the  hammock  on  to  a  deck  probably  wet,  dressed  by 
a  dim,  single-wick  swinging  lantern,  which  revealed  chiefly 
what  you  did  not  want,  or  by  a  candle  which  had  to  be  watch- 
ed with  one  eye  lest  it  roll  over  and,  as  once  in  my  experi- 
ence happened,  set  fire  to  wood-work.    Needless  to  say,  elec- 
tric lights  then  were  not.    Dressed  in  storm-clothes  about  as 
conducive  to  agiUty  as  a  suit  of  mediaeval  armor,  and  a 
sou'wester  which  caught  at  every  corner  you  turned,  you 
forced  your  way  up  through  two  successive  tarpauhn-cov- 
ered  hatches,  by  holes  just  big  enough  to  pass,  pushing 
aside  the  tarpaulin  with  one  hand  while  the  other  steadied 

128 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

yourself.  And  if  there  were  no  moon,  how  black  the  out- 
side was,  to  an  eye  as  yet  adjusted  only  to  the  darkness 
visible  of  the  lanterns  below!  Except  a  single  ray  on  the 
little  book  by  which  the  midshipman  mustered  the  watch, 
no  gleam  of  artificial  light  was  permitted  on  the  spar — 
upper  —  deck;  the  fitful  flashes  dazzled  more  than  they 
helped.  You  groped  your  way  forward  with  some  certain- 
ty, due  to  familiarity  with  the  ground,  and  with  more  cer- 
tainty of  being  jostled  and  trampled  by  your  many  watch- 
mates,  quite  as  blind  and  much  more  sleepy  tlan  their 
officers  could  afford  to  be.  The  rain  stung  your  face;  the 
wind  howled  in  your  ears  and  drowned  your  voice;  the 
men  were  either  intent  on  going  below,  or  drowsy  and  ill- 
reconciled  to  having  to  come  on  deck;  in  either  case  in- 
attentive and  hard  to  move  for  some  moments. 

In  truth,  the  fifteen  minutes  attending  the  change  of  a 
watch  were  a  period  not  only  of  inconvenience,  but  of  real 
danger  too  rarely  appreciated.  I  remember  one  of  the 
smartest  seamen  and  officers  of  the  old  navy  speaking  feel- 
ingly to  me  of  the  anxiety  those  instants  often  caused  him. 
The  lieutenant  of  an  expiring  watch  too  frequently  would 
postpone  some  necessary  step,  either  from  personal  in- 
dolence or  from  a,  good-natured  indisposition  to  disturb 
the  men,  who  when  not  needed  to  work  slept  about  the 
decks — except,  of  course,  the  lookouts  and  wheel.  The 
other  watch  will  soon  be  coming  up,  he  would  argue;  let 
them  do  it,  before  they  settle  down  to  sleep.  There  were 
times,  such  as  a  slowly  increasing  gale,  which  might  justify 
delay;  especially  if  the  watch  had  had  an  imusual  amount 
of  work.  But  tropical  squalls,  which  gather  quickly  and 
sweep  down  with  hurricane  force,  are  another  matter;  and 
it  was  of  these  the  officer  quoted  spoke,  suggesting  that 
possibly  such  an  experience  had  caused  the  loss  of  one  of 
our  large,  tall-sparred  sloops-of-war,  the  Albany,  which  in 
1854  disappeared  in  the  West  Indies.    The  men  who  have 

129 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

been  four  hours  on  deck  are  thinking  only  of  their  ham- 
mocks; their  rehefs  are  not  half  awake,  and  do  not  feel  they 
are  on  duty  mitil  the  watch  is  mustered.  All  are  mingled 
together;  the  very  mmibers  of  a  ship  of  war  under  such 
circumstances  impede  themselves  and  their  officers.  I  re- 
member an  atjquaintance  of  mine  telling  me  that  once  on 
taking  the  trumpet,  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  "the 
deck  being  relieved,"  his  predecessor,  after  "  turning  over 
the  night  orders,"  said,  casually,  "It  looks  like  a  pretty 
big  squall  coming  up  there  to  windward,"  and  incontinent- 
ly dived  below.  "I  jumped  on  the  horse-block,"  said  the 
narrator,  "and  there  it  was,  sure  enough,  coming  down 
hand  over  fist.  I  had  no  time  to  shorten  sail,  but  only  to 
put  the  hehn  up  and  get  her  before  it;"  an  instance  in  point 
of  what  an  old  gray-haired  instructor  of  ours  used  to  say, 
with  correct  accentuation,  "Always  the  helium  first." 

But,  when  you  were  awake,  what  a  mighty  stimulus  there 
was  in  the  salt  roaring  wind  and  the  pelting  rain!  how  in- 
fectious the  shout  of  the  officer  of  the  deck!  the  answering 
cry  of  the  topmen  aloft— the  "  Haul  out  to  windward!  To- 
gether! All!"  that  reached  your  ear  from  the  yards  as  the 
men  struggled  with  the  wet,  swollen,  thrashing  canvas,  mas- 
tering it  with  mighty  pull,  and  "lighting  to  windward"  the 
reef -band  which  was  to  be  the  new  head  of  the  sail,  ready  to 
the  hand  of  the  man  at  the  post  of  honor,  the  weather  ear- 
ing! How  eager  and  absorbing  the  gaze  through  the  dark- 
ness, from  deck,  to  see  how  they  were  getting  on;  whether 
the  yard  was  so  braced  that  the  sail  lay  with  the  wind  out  of 
it,  really  slack  for  handling,  though  still  bellying  and  lift- 
ing as  the  ship  rolled,  or  headed  up  or  off;  whether  this  rope 
or  that  which  controlled  the  wilful  canvas  needed  another 
pull.  But  if  the  yard  itself  had  not  been  laid  right,  it  was  too 
late  to  mend  it.  To  start  a  brace  with  the  men  on  the  spar 
might  cause  a  jerk  that  would  spill  from  it  some  one  whose 
both  hands  were  in  the  work,  contrary  to  the  sound  tradi- 

130 


FIRST  JCRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

tion,  "  One  hand  for  yourself  and  one  for  the  owners^'  I 
beUeve  the  old  English  phrase  ran,  "One  for  yourself  and 
one  for  the  king."  Then,  when  all  was  over  and  snug  once 
more,  the  men  down  from  aloft,  the  rigging  coiled  up  again 
on  its  pins,  there  succeeded  the  delightful  relaxation  from 
work  well  done  and  finished,  the  easy  acceptance  of  the 
quieting  yet  stimulating  effect  of  the  strong  air,  enjoyed  in 
indolence;  for  nothing  was  more  unoccupied  than  the  sea- 
man when  the  last  reef  was  in  the  topsails  and  the  ship 
lying-to. 

Talking  of  such  sensations,  and  the  idle  abandon  of  a 
whole  gale  of  wind  after  the  ship  is  secured,  I  wonder  how 
many  of  my  readers  will  have  seen  the  following  ancient 
song.  I  guard  myself  from  implying  the  full  acquiescence 
of  seamen  in  what  is,  of  course,  a  caricature;  few  seamen, 
few  who  have  tried,  really  enjoy  bad  weather.  Yet  there 
are  exceptions.  That  there  is  no  accounting  for  tastes  is 
extraordinarily  true.  I  once  met  a  man,  journeying,  who 
told  me  he  hked  living  in  a  sleeping-car;  than  which  to  me 
a  dozen  gales,  with  their  abounding  fresh  air,  would  be 
preferable.  Yet  this  ditty  does  grotesquely  reproduce  the 
lazy  satisfaction  and  security  of  the  old-timers  under  the 
conditions : 

"  One  night  came  on  a  hurricane, 

The  sea  was  mountains  rolling, 
When  Barney  Buntline  turned  his  quid 

And  said  to  Billy  Bowline, 
*A  strong  nor'wester's  blowing,  Bill: 

Hark!  don't  you  hear  it  roar  now? 
Lord  help  them!  how  I  pities  all 

Unlucky  folks  on  shore  now. 

"  *  Foolhardy  chaps,  that  live  in  towns, 

What  dangers  they  are  all  in! 

And  now  lie  shaking  in  their  beds, 

For  fear  the  roof  should  fall  in! 

131 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

Poor  creatures,  how  they  envies  us, 

And  wishes,  I've  a  notion, 
For  our  good  luck,  in  such  a  storm, 

To  be  upon  the  ocean. 

"  'And  often.  Bill,  I  have  been  told 

How  folks  are  killed,  and  undone. 
By  overturns  of  carriages, 

By  fogs  and  fires  in  London. 
We  know  what  risks  all  landsmen  run, 

From  noblemen  to  tailors; 
Then,  Bill,  let  us  thank  Providence 

That  you  and  I  are  sailors.' " 

Tastes  differ  as  to  which  of  the  three  night  watches  is 
preferable.  Perhaps  some  one  who  has  tried  will  reply 
they  are  all  alike  detestable,  and,  if  he  be  Irish,  will  add 
that  the  only  decent  watch  on  deck  is  the  watch  below — an 
"all  night  in."  But  I  also  have  tried;  and  while  prepared 
to  admit  that  perhaps  the  pleasantest  moment  of  any  par- 
ticular watch  is  that  in  which  your  successor  touches  his 
cap  and  says,  "I'll  relieve  you,"  I  still  maintain  there  are 
abundant  and  large  compensations.  Particularly  for  a 
midshipman,  for  he  had  no  responsibihties.  The  Ueuten- 
ant  of  the  watch  had  always  before  him  the  possibilities 
of  a  mischance;  and  one  very  good  officer  said  to  me  he  did 
not' believe  any  lieutenant  in  the  navy  felt  perfectly  com- 
fortable in  charge  of  the  deck  in  a  heavy  gale.  Freedom 
from  anxiety,  however,  is  a  matter  of  temperament;  not 
by  any  means  necessarily  of  courage,  although  it  adds  to 
courage  the  invaluable  quality  of  not  wasting  nerve  force 
on  difficulties  of  the  imagination.  A  wTather-brace  may 
go  unexpectedly;  a  topsail-sheet  part;  an  awkward  wave 
come  on  board.  Very  true;  but  what  is  the  use  of  worry- 
ing, unless  you  are  constitutionally  disposed  to  worry.  If 
you  are  constitutionally  so  disposed,  I  admit  there  is  not 
much  use  in  talking.    Illustrative  of  this,  the  following 

L32 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

story  has  come  down  of  two  British  admirals,  both  men  of 
proved  merit  and  gallantry.  "When  Howe  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  Channel  Fleet,  after  a  dark  and  boisterous 
night,  in  which  the  ships  had  been  in  some  danger  of  run- 
ning foul  of  each  other.  Lord  Gardner,  then  the  third  in 
command,  the  next  day  went  on  board  the  Queen  Char- 
lotte and  inquired  of  Lord  Howe  how  he  had  slept,  for  that 
he  himself  had  not  been  able  to  get  any  rest  from  anxiety 
of  mind.  Lord  Howe  said  he  had  slept  perfectly  well,  for, 
as  he  had  taken  every  possible  precaution  he  could  before 
dark,  he  laid  himself  down  with  a  conscious  feeling  that 
everything  had  been  done  which  it  was  in  his  power  to 
do  for  the  safety  of  the  ships  and  of  the  lives  intrusted  to 
his  care,  and  this  conviction  set  his  mind  at  ease."  The 
apprehensiveness  with  which  Gardner  was  afflicted  "is 
further  exemplified  by  an  anecdote  told  by  Admiral  Sir 
James  Whitshed,  who  commanded  the  Alligator,  next  him 
in  the  line.  Such  was  his  anxiety,  even  in  ordinary  weath- 
er, *that,  though  each  ship  carried  three  poop  lanterns,  he 
always  kept  one  burning  in  his  cabin,  and  when  he  thought 
the  Alligator  was  approaching  too  near,  he  used  to  run  out 
into  the  stern  gallery  with  the  lantern  in  his  hand,  waving 
it  so  as  to  be  noticed."  My  friend  above  quoted  had  only 
recently  quitted  a  brig-of-war,  on  board  which  he  had 
passed  several  night  watches  with  a  man  standing  by  the 
lee  topsail-sheet,  axe  in  hand,  to  cut  if  she  went  over  too 
far,  lest  she  might  not  come  back;  and  the  circumstance 
had  left  an  impression.  I  do  not  think  he  w^as  much  troubled 
in  this  way  on  board  our  frigate;  yet  the  Savannah,  but  little 
smaller  than  the  Congress,  had  been  laid  nearly  on  her  beam- 
ends  by  a  sudden  squall,  and  had  to  cut,  when  entering  Rio 
two  years  before. 

Being  even  at  nineteen  of  a  meditative  turn,  fond  of  build- 
ing castles  in  the  air,  or  recalling  old  acquaintance  and  anld 
lang  syne, — the  retrospect  of  youth,  though  short,  seems 

133 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEM! 

longer  than  that  of  age,— I  preferred  in  ordinary  weather 
the  mid-watch,  from  midnight  to  four.  There  was 
then  less  doing;  more  time  and  scope  to  enjoy.  The  can- 
vas had  long  before  been  arranged  for  the  night.  If  the 
wind  shifted,  or  necessity  for  tacking  arose,  of  course  it 
was  done;  but  otherwise  a  considerate  officer  would  let 
the  men  sleep,  only  rousing  them  for  imperative  reasons. 
The  hum  of  the  ship,  the  loitering  "  idlers,  "—men  who  do 
not  keep  watch,— last  well  on  to  ten,  or  after,  in  the  pre- 
ceding watch;  and  the  officers  of  the  deck  in  sailing-ships 
had  not  the  reserve— or  preserve— which  the  isolation  of 
the  modern  bridge  affords  its  occupants.  Although  the 
weather  side  of  the  ciuarter-deck  was  kept  clear  for  him 
and  the  captain,  there  was  continued  going  and  coming, 
and  talking  near  by.  He  was  on  the  edge  of  things,  if  not 
in  the  midst;  while  the  midshipman  of  the  forecastle  had 
scarce  a  foot  he  could  call  his  very  own.  But  when  the 
mid-watch  had  been  mustered,  the  lookouts  stationed,  and 
the  rest  of  them  had  settled  themselves  down  for  slfeep 
between  the  guns,  out  of  the  way  of  passing  feet,  the  fore- 
castle of  the  Congress  offered  a  very  decent  promenade, 
magnificent  compared  to  that  proverbial  of  the  poops  of 
small  vessels— "two  steps  and  overboard."  Then  began 
the  steady  pace  to  and  fro,  which  to  me  was  natural  and  in- 
herited, easily  maintained  and  consistent  with  thought— in- 
deed, productive  of  it.  Not  every  officer  has  this  habit,  but 
most  acquire  it.  I  have  been  told  that,  however  weakly 
otherwise,  the  calf  muscles  of  watch-officers  were  general- 
ly well  developed.  There  were  exceptions.  A  lieutenant 
who  was  something  of  a  wag  on  one  occasion  handed  the 
midshipman  of  his  watch  a  small  instrument,  in  which  the 
latter  did  not  recognize  a  pedometer.  "Will  you  kindly 
keep  this  in  your  trousers-pocket  for  me  till  the  watch  is 
over?"  At  eight  bells  he  asked  for  it,  and,  after  examin- 
ing, said,  quizzically,  "Mr. ,  I  see  you  have  walked 

134 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

just  half  a  mile  in  the  last  four  hours."  Of  course,  walking 
is  not  imperative,  one  may  watch  standing;  but  movement 
tends  to  wakefulness — you  can  drowse  upon  your  feet — 
while  to  sit  down,  besides  being  forbidden  by  unwritten 
law,  is  a  treacherous  snare  to  young  eyelids. 

How  much  a  watch  afforded  to  an  eye  that  loved  nature! 
I  have  been  bored  so  often  by  descriptions  of  scenery,  that 
I  am  warned  to  put  here  a  sharp  check  on  my  memory,  lest 
it  run  away  with  me,  and  my  readers  seek  escape  by  jump- 
ing off.  I  will  forbear,  therefore,  any  attempt  at  portrait- 
ure, and  merely  mention  the  superb  aurora  borealis  which 
illuminated  several  nights  of  the  autumn  of  1859,  percepti- 
bly affecting  the  brightness  of  the  atmosphere,  while  we 
lay  becalmed  a  little  north  of  the  tropics.  But  other  things 
I  shall  have  some  excuse  for  telhng ;  because  what  my  eyes 
used  to  see  then  few  mortal  eyes  will  see  again.  Travel  will 
not  reach  it;  for  though  here  and  there  a  rare  sailing-ship 
is  kept  in  a  navy,  for  occasional  instruction,  otherwise  they 
have  passed  away  forever;  and  the  exceptions  are  but  cu- 
riosities— reality  has  disappeared.  They  no  longer  have 
life,  and  are  now  but  the  specimens  of  the  museum.  The 
beauties  of  a  brilHant  night  at  sea,  whether  starlit  or 
moonlit,  the  solemn,  awe-inspiring  gloom  and  silence  of  a 
clouded,  threatening  sky,  as  the  steamer  with  dull  thud 
moves  at  midnight  over  the  waste  of  waters,  these  I  need 
not  describe ;  many  there  are  that  see  them  in  these  rambling 
days.  These  eternities  of  the  heavens  and  the  deep  abide 
as  before,  are  common  to  the  steamer  as  to  the  sailing-ship; 
but  what  weary  strain  of  words  can  restore  to  imagination 
the  beautiful  hving  creature  which  leaped  under  our  feet 
and  spread  her  wings  above  us?  For  a  sailing-ship  was 
more  inspiring  from  within  than  from  without,  especially 
a  ship  of  war,  which,  as  usually  ordered,  permitted  no 
slovenliness;  aboimded  in  the  perpetual  seemliness  that 
enhances  beauty  yet  takes  naught  from  grace.    Viewed 

135 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

from  without,  undeniably  a  ship  under  sail  possesses  at- 
traction; but  it  is  from  within  that  you  feel  the  "very  pulse 
of  the  machine."  No  canvas  looks  so  lofty,  speaks  so  elo- 
quently, as  that  seen  from  its  own  deck,  and  this  chiefly 
has  invested  the  saiUng-vessel  with  its  poetry.  This  the 
steamer,  with  its  vulgar  appeal  to  physical  comfort,  can- 
not give.  Does  any  one  know  any  verse  of  real  poetry, 
any  strong,  thrilling  idea,  suitably  voiced,  concerning  a 
steamer?  I  do— one— by  Clough,  depicting  the  wrench 
from  home,  the  stern  inspiration  following  the  wail  of 
him  who  goeth  away  to  return  no  more : 

"Come  back!  come  back! 
Back  flies  the  foam;  the  hoisted  flag  streams  back; 
The  long  smoke  wavers  on  the  homeward  track. 
Back  fly  with  winds  things  which  the  winds  obey, 
The  strong  ship  follows  its  appointed  way." 

Oddly  enough,  two  of  the  most  striking  sea  scenes  that 
I  remember,  very  different  in  character,  associate  them- 
selves with  my  favorite  mid-watch.  The  first  was  the 
night  on  which  we  struck  the  northeast  trade-winds,  out- 
ward bound.  We  had  been  becalmed  for  nearly,  if  not 
quite,  two  weeks  in  the  "horse  latitudes;"  which  take  their 
name,  tradition  asserts,  from  the  days  when  the  West 
India  sugar  islands  depended  for  live-stock,  and  much  be- 
sides, on  the  British  continental  colonies.  If  too  long  be- 
calmed, and  water  gave  out,  the  unhappy  creatures  had 
to  be  thrown  overboard  to  save  hmnan  lives.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  northeast  trades,  between  them  and  the  south- 
east, towards  the  equator,  lies  another  zone  of  cahiis,  the 
doldrums,  from  which  also  the  Congress  this  time  suffered. 
We  were  sixty  seven  or  eight  days  from  the  Capes  of  the 
Delaware  to  Bahia,  a  distance,  direct,  of  Uttle  more  than 
four  thousand  miles.  Of  course,  there  was  some  beating 
against  head  wind,  but  wc  could  not  have  averaged  a  him- 

130 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

drecl  miles  to  the  twenty-four  hours.  During  much  of  this 
passage  the  allowance  of  fresh  water  was  reduced  to  two 
quarts  per  man,  except  sick,  for  all  purposes  of  consump- 
tion—drinking and  cooking.  Under  such  conditions, 
washing  had  to  be  done  with  salt  water.  ^ 

We  had  worried  our  weary  way  through  the  horse  lati- 
tudes, embracing  every  flaw  of  wind,  often  accompanied 
by  rain,  to  get  a  mile  ahead  here,  half  a  dozen  miles  there; 
and,  as  these  spurts  come  from  every  quarter,  this  involves 
a  lot  of  bracing — changing  the  position  of  the  yards;  con- 
tinuous work,  very  different  from  the  placid  restfulness  of 
a  "whole  gale"  of  wind,  with  everything  snug  aloft  and 
no  chance  of  let-up  during  the  watch.  Between  these 
occasional  puffs  would  come  long  pauses  of  dead  calm,  in 
which  the  midshipman  of  the  watch  would  enter  in  the 
log:  "  1  A.M.,  0  knots;  2  a.m.,  6  fathoms  (|  knot);  3  a.m., 
0  knots;  4  a.m.,  1  knot,  2  fathoms;"  the  last  representing 
usually  a  guess  of  the  officer  of  the  deck  as  to  what  would 
make  the  aggregate  for  the  four  hours  nearly  right.  It 
did  not  matter,  for  we  were  hundreds  of  miles  from  land 
and  the  sky  always  clear  for  observations.  Few  of  the 
watch  got  much  sleep,  because  of  the  perpetual  bracing; 
and  all  the  while  the  ship  rolling  and  sending,  in  the  long, 
glassy  ocean  swell,  unsteadied  by  the  empty  sails,  which 
swimg  out  with  one  lurch  as  though  full,  and  then  slapped 
back  all  together  against  the  masts,  with  a  swing  and  a 
jerk  and  a  thud  that  made  every  spar  tremble,  and  the 
vessel  herself  quiver  in  unison.  Nor  were  we  alone.  Fre- 
quently two  or  three  American  clippers  would  be  hull-up 
at  the  same  moment  within  our  horizon,  bound  the  same 
way;  and  it  was  singular  how,  despite  the  apparently  un- 
broken calm,  we  got  away  from  one  another  and  disap- 
peared. Ships  lying  with  their  heads  "all  around  the 
compass"  flapped  themselves  along  in  the  direction  of 
their  bows,  the  line  of  least  resistance. 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

I  do  not  know  at  what  hour  under  such  circumstances  we 
had  struck  the  trades,  but  when  I  came  on  deck  at  mid- 
night we  had  got  them  steady  and  strong.  As  there  was 
still  a  good  deal  of  easting  to  make,  the  ship  had  been 
brought  close  to  the  wind  on  the  port  tack;  the  bowhnes 
steadied  out,  but  not  dragged,  every  sail  a  good  rap  full, 
"fast  asleep,"  without  the  tremor  of  an  eyehd,  if  I  may  so 
style  a  weather  leach,  or  of  any  inch  of  the  canvas,  from 
the  royals  down  to  the  courses.  Every  condition  was  as 
if  arranged  for  a  special  occasion,  or  to  recompense  us  for 
the  tedium  of  the  horse  latitudes.  The  moon  was  big,  and 
there  was  a  clear  sky,  save  for  the  narrow  band  of  tiny 
clouds,  massed  like  a  flock  of  sheep,  which  ever  fringes  the 
horizon  of  the  trades;  always  on  the  horizon,  as  you  pro- 
gress, yet  never  visible  above  when  the  horizon  of  this  hour 
has  become  the  zenith  of  the  next.  After  the  watch  was 
mustered  and  the  lookouts  stationed,  there  came  perfect 
silence,  save  for  the  slight,  but  not  ominous,  singing  of  the 
wind  through  the  riggings  and  the  dash  of  the  water  against 
the  bows,  audible  forward  though  not  aft.  The  seamen, 
not  romantically  inchned,  for  the  most  part  heeded  neither 
moon  nor  sky  nor  canvas.  The  vivid,  dehcate  tracery  of 
the  shrouds  and  rmming  gear,  the  broader  image  of  the 
sails,  shadowed  on  the  moonlit  deck,  appealed  not  to 
them.  Recognizing  only  that  we  had  a  steady  wind,  no 
more  bracing  to-night,  and  that  the  most  that  could  hap- 
pen would  be  to  furl  the  royals  should  it  freshen,  they  hast- 
ened to  stow  themselves  away  for  a  full  due  between  the 
cannon,  out  of  the  way  of  passing  feet,  sure  that  this  watch 
on  deck  would  be  httle  less  good  than  one  below.  Perhaps 
there  were  also  visions  of  "  beans  to-morrow."     I  trust  so. 

The  lieutenant  of  the  watch.  Smith,  and  I  had  it  all  to 
ourselves;  unbroken,  save  for  the  half -hourly  call  of  the 
lookouts:  "Starboard  cathead!"  "Port  cathead!"  "Star- 
board gangway!"  "Port gangway!"  "Lifebuoy!"  Hecame 

138 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

forward  from  time  to  time  to  take  it  all  in,  and  to  see  how 
the  hght  spars  were  standing,  for  the  ship  was  heehng  eight 
or  ten  degrees,  and  racing  along,  however  quietly;  but  the 
strain  was  steady,  no  whipping  about  from  uneasy  move- 
ment of  the  vessel,  and  we  carried  on  to  the  end.  Each  hour 
I  hove  the  log  and  reported:  one  o'clock,  eleven  knots; 
two  o'clock,  eleven;  three  o'clock,  eleven — famous  going 
for  an  old  sailing-sliip  close-hauled.  Splendid!  we  rubbed 
our  hands;  what  a  record!  But,  alas!  at  four  o'clock,  ten! 
Commonly,  ten  used  to  be  a  kind  of  standard  of  excellence ; 
Nelson  once  wrote,  as  expressive  of  an  utmost  of  hopeful- 
ness, "  If  we  all  went  ten  knots,  I  should  not  think  it  fast 
enough;"  but,  puffed  up  as  we  had  been,  it  was  now  a  sad 
come-down.  Smith  looked  at  me.  "Are  you  sure,  Mr. 
Mahan?"  With  the  old  hand-log,  its  line  running  out  while 
the  sand  sped  its  way  through  the  fourteen-seconds  glass, 
the  log-heaver  might  sometimes,  by  judicious  "feeding" — 
hurrying  the  hne  under  the  plea  of  not  dragging  the  log- 
chip — squeeze  a  little  more  record  out  of  the  log-line  than 
the  facts  warranted ;  and  Smith  seemed  to  feel  I  might  have 
done  a  little  better  for  the  watch  and  for  the  ship.  But 
in  truth,  when  a  cord  is  rushing  through  your  hand  at  the 
rate  of  ten  miles  an  horn'  —  fifteen  feet  a  second  —  you 
cannot  get  hold  enough  to  hasten  the  pace.  He  passed 
through  a  struggle  of  conscience.  "  Well,  I  suppose  I  must ; 
log  her  ten-four."  A  poor  tail  to  our  beautiful  kite. 
Ten-four  meant  ten  and  a  half;  for  in  those  primitive  days 
knots  were  divided  into  eight  fathoms.  Now  they  are 
reckoned  by  tenths;  a  small  triumph  of  the  decimal  sys- 
tem, which  may  also  carry  cheer  to  the  constant  hearts 
of  the  spelling  reformers. 

A  year  later,  at  like  dead  of  night,  I  witnessed  quite  an- 
other scene.  We  were  then  off  the  mouth  of  the  river  La 
Plata,  perhaps  two  hundred  miles  from  shore.  We  had 
been  a  fortnight  at  sea,  cruising;  and  I  have  always  thought 

139 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

that  the  captain,  who  was  interested  in  meteorology  and 
knew  the  region,  kept  us  out  till  we  should  catch  a  pam- 
pero. We  caught  it,  and  quite  up  to  sample.  I  had  been 
on  deck  at  9  p.m.,  and  the  scene  then,  save  for  the  force 
of  the  wind,  was  nearly  the  same  as  that  I  have  just  de- 
scribed. The  same  sail,  the  same  cloudless  sky  and  large 
moon;  but  we  were  going  only  five  knots,  with  a  quiet, 
ripphng  sea,  on  which  the  moonbeams  danced.  Such  a 
scene  as  Byron  doubtless  had  in  memory: 

"  The  midnight  moon  is  weaving 
Her  bright  chahi  o'er  the  deep; 
Whose  breast  is  gently  heaving 
Like  an  infant's  asleep." 

Having  to  turn  out  at  twelve,  I  soon  started  below;  but 
before  swinging  into  my  hammock  I  heard  the  order  to  furl 
the  royals  and  send  the  yards  on  deck.  This  startled  me, 
for  I  had  not  been  watching  the  barometer,  as  the  captain 
had;  and  I  remember,  by  the  same  token,  that  I  was  then 
enlarging  on  the  beauties  of  the  outlook  above,  accompa- 
nied by  some  disparaging  remarks  about  what  steamers 
could  show,  whereupon  one  of  our  senior  officers,  over- 
hearing, called  me  in,  and  told  me  quite  affably,  and  in 
delicate  terms,  not  to  make  a  fool  of  myself. 

But  "Linden  saw  another  sight,"  when  I  returned  to  the 
deck  at  midnight;  sharp,  I  am  sure,  for  I  held  to  the  some- 
what priggish  saying,  first  devised,  I  imagine,  by  some  wag 
tired  of  waiting  for  his  successor,  "A  prompt  relief  is  the 
pride  of  a  young  officer."  The  quartermaster,  who  called 
me  and  left  the  lantern  dimly  burning,  had  conveyed  the 
comforting  assurance  that  it  looked  very  bad  on  deck,  and 
the  second  reef  was  just  taking  in  the  topsails.  When  I 
got  to  my  station,  the  former  watch  was  still  aloft,  tying 
their  last  reef-points,  from  which  they  soon  straggled  down, 
morosely  conscious  that  they  had  lost  ten  minutes  of  their 

140 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

one  watch  below,  and  would  have  to  be  on  deck  again  at 
four.  The  moon  was  still  up,  but,  as  it  were,  only  to  em- 
phasize the  darkness  of  the  huge  cloud  masses  which  scud- 
ded across  the  sky,  with  a  rapid  but  steady  gait,  showing 
that  the  wind  meant  business.  The  new  watch  was  given 
no  more  time  than  to  wake  up  and  shake  themselves. 
They  were  soon  on  the  yards,  taking  the  third  and  fourth — 
last — reefs  in  the  fore  and  main  topsails,  furling  the  miz- 
zen,  and  seeing  that  the  lower  sails  and  topgallant-sails 
were  seciu-ely  rolled  up  against  the  burst  that  was  to  be 
expected.  Before  1.30  a.m.  all  things  were  as  ready  as 
care  could  make  them,  and  not  too  soon.  The  moon  was 
sinking,  or  had  sunk;  the  sky  darkened  steadily,  though  not 
beyond  that  natural  to  a  starless  night.  In  the  southwest 
faint  glimmerings  of  hghtning  gave  warning  of  what  might 
be  looked  for;  but  we  had  used  light  well  while  we  had  it, 
and  could  now  bear  what  was  to  come.  At  2  p.m.  it  came 
with  a  roar  and  a  rush,  ''butt-end  foremost,"  as  the  saying 
is,  preceded  by  a  few  huge  drops  of  scurrying  rain. 

"When  the  rain  before  the  wind, 
Topsail  sheets  and  halyards  mind;" 

but  that  was  for  other  conditions  than  ours. 

A  pampero  at  its  ordinary  level  is  no  joke;  but  this  was 
the  charge  of  a  wild  elephant,  which  would  exhaust  itself 
soon,  but  for  the  nonce  was  terrific.  Pitch  darkness  set- 
tled down  upon  the  ship.  Except  in  the  frequent  flashes 
of  lightning,  literally  blue,  I  could  not  see  the  forecastle 
boatswain's  mate  of  the  watch,  who  stood  close  by  my 
elbow,  ready  pipe  in  hand.  The  rain  came  down  in  buck- 
ets, and  in  the  midst  of  all  the  wind  suddenly  shifted, 
taking  the  sails  flat  aback.  The  shrillness  of  the  boat- 
swain's pipes  is  then  their  great  merit.  They  pierce  through 
the  roar  of  the  tempest,  by  sheer  difference  of  pitch,  an 
effect  one  sometimes  hears  in  an  opera;  and  the  officer  of 

lo  141 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

the  deck,  our  second  lieutenant,  who  bore  the  name  of 
Andrew  Jackson,  and  was  said  to  have  received  his  ap- 
pointment from  him — which  shows  how  far  back  he  went — 
had  a  voice  of  somewhat  the  same  quaUty.  I  had  often 
heard  it  assert  itself,  winding  in  and  out  through  the  up- 
roar of  an  ordinary  gale,  but  on  this  occasion  it  went  clean 
away— whistled  down  the  wind.  "  I  always  think  bad  of 
it,"  said  Boatswain  Chucks,  "when  the  elements  won't  al- 
low my  whistle  to  be  heard;  and  I  consider  it  hardly  fair 
play."  Such  advantage  the  elements  took  of  us  on  this 
occasion,  but  the  captain  came  to  the  rescue.  He  had  the 
throat  of  a  bull  of  Bashan,  which  went  the  elements  one 
better  on  their  own  hand.  Under  his  stentorian  shouts 
the  weather  head-braces  were  led  along  (probably  already 
had  been,  as  part  of  the  preparation,  but  that  was  quarter- 
deck work,  outside  my  knowledge)  and  manned.  All  other 
gear  being  coiled  out  of  the  way,  on  the  pins,  there  was 
nothing  to  confuse  or  entangle;  the  fore  topsail  was  swung 
round  on  the  opposite  tack  from  the  main,  a-box,  to  pay 
the  ship's  head  off  and  leave  her  side  to  the  wind,  steadied 
by  the  close-reefed  fore  and  main  topsails,  which  would 
then  be  filled.  She  was  now,  of  course,  going  astern  fast; 
but  tliis  mattered  nothing,  for  the  sea  had  not  yet  got  up. 
The  evolution,  common  enough  itself,  an  almost  invariable 
accompaniment  of  getting  under  way,  was  now  exciting 
even  to  grandeur,  for  we  could  see  only  when  the  benevo- 
lent lightning  kindled  in  the  sky  a  momentary  glare  of 
noonday.  "Now  that's  a  clever  old  man,"  said  the  boat- 
swain's mate  next  day  to  me,  approvingly,  of  the  captain; 
"  boxing  her  off  that  way,  with  all  that  wind  and  blackness, 
was  handsomely  done."  After  this  we  settled  down  to  a 
two  days'  pampero,  witli  a  huge  but  regular  sea. 

Whether  the  Congress's  helm  on  this  interesting  occasion 
was  shifted  for  sternboard  I  never  inquired.  Marryat  tells 
us  it  was  a  moot  point  in  his  young  days.    Our  captain 

142 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

was  an  excellent  seaman,  but  had  'doxies  of  his  own.  Of 
these,  one  which  ran  contrary  to  current  standards  was  in 
favor  of  clewing  up  a  course  or  topsail  to  leeward,  in  blow- 
ing weather.  Among  the  lieutenants  was  a  strong  cham- 
pion of  the  opposite  and  accepted  dogma,  and  a  messmate 
of  mine,  in  his  division  and  sliining  by  reflected  light,  was 
always  prompt  to  enforce  closure  of  debate  by  declaiming : 

"He  who  seeks  the  tempest  to  disarm 
Will  never  fii'st  embrail  the  lee  yard-arm." 

Whether  Falconer,  besides  being  a  poet,  was  also  an  ex- 
pert in  seamanship,  or  whether  he  simply  registered  the 
views  of  his  day,  may  be  questioned.  The  two  alterna- 
tives, I  fancy,  were  the  chance  of  splitting  the  sail,  and  that 
of  springing  the  yard ;  and  any  one  who  has  ever  watched 
a  big  bag  of  wind  whipping  a  weather  yard-arm  up  and 
dovni  in  its  bellying  struggles,  after  clewing  up  to  windward, 
will  have  experienced  as  eager  a  desire  to  call  it  down  as 
he  has  ever  felt  to  suppress  its  congener  in  an  after-dinner 
oration.     Both  are  much  out  of  place  and  time. 

Days  of  the  past!  Certainly  a  watch  spent  reefing  top- 
sails in  the  rain  was  less  tedious  than  that  everlasting 
bridge  of  to-day:  Tramp!  Tramp!  or  stand  still,  facing 
the  wind  blowing  the  teeth  down  your  throat.  Nothing 
to  do  requiring  effort;  the  engine  does  all  that;  but  still 
a  perpetual  strain  of  attention  due  to  the  rapid  motion  of 
vessels  mider  steam.  The  very  slowness  of  sailing-ships 
lightened  anxiety.  In  such  a  gale  you  might  as  well  be 
anxious  in  a  wheel-chair.  And  then,  when  you  went  be- 
low, you  went,  not  bored,  but  healthfully  tired  with  active 
exertion  of  mind  and  body.  Yes ;  the  sound  was  sweet  then, 
at  eight  bells,  the  pipe,  pipe,  pipe,  pipe  of  the  boatswain's 
mates,  followed  by  their  gruff  voices  drawling  out,  in  loud 
sing-song:  "A-a-a-all  the  starboard  watch!  Come!  turn 
out  there!    Tumble  out!    Tmnbleout!    Show  a  leg!    Show 

143 


FROM    SAIL   TO    STEAM 

a  leg!  On  deck  there!  all  the  starboard  watch!"  When  I 
went  below  that  morning  with  the  port  watch,  at  four 
o'clock,  I  turned  over  to  my  relief  a  forecastle  on  which 
he  would  have  nothing  to  do  but  drink  his  coffee  at  day- 
light. 

That  daylight  coffee  of  the  morning  watch,  chief  of  its 
charms,  need  not  be  described  to  the  many  who  have  ex- 
perienced the  difference  between  the  old  man  and  the  new 
man  of  before  and  after  coffee.  The  galley  (kitchen)  fire 
of  ships  of  war  used  to  be  started  at  seven  bells  of  the  mid- 
watch  (3.30  A.M.);  and  the  officers,  and  most  of  the  men, 
who  next  came  on  duty,  managed  to  have  coffee,  the  latter 
husbanding  their  rations  to  this  end.  Since  those  days  a 
benevolent  regulation  has  allowed  an  extra  ration  of  coffee 
to  the  crew  for  this  purpose,  so  that  no  man  goes  without, 
or  works  the  morning  watch  on  an  empty  stomach.  For 
the  morning  watch  was  very  busy.  Then,  on  several  days 
of  the  week,  the  seamen  washed  their  clothes.  Then  the 
upper  deck  was  daily  scrubbed;  sometimes  the  mere  wash- 
ing off  the  soap-suds  left  from  the  clothes,  sometimes  with 
brooms  and  sand,  sometimes  the  solemn  ceremony  of  holy- 
stoning with  its  monotonous  musical  sound  of  grinding. 
Along  with  these,  dovetailed  in  as  opportunity  offered, 
in  a  sailing-ship  under  way  there  went  on  the  work  of  re- 
adjusting the  yards  and  sails;  a  pull  here  and  a  pull  there, 
like  a  woman  getting  herself  into  shape  after  sitting  too 
long  in  one  position.  Yards  trimmed  to  a  nicety;  the  two 
sheets  of  each  sail  close  home  alike ;  all  the  canvas  taut  up, 
from  the  weather-tacks  of  the  courses  to  the  weather- 
earings  of  the  royals;  no  slack  weather-braces,  or  weather- 
leaches,  letting  a  bight  of  loose  canvas  sag  like  an  incipient 
double  chin.  When  these  and  a  dozen  other  little  details 
had  remedied  the  disorders  of  the  night,  due  to  the  in- 
varial^le  slacking  of  cordage  under  strain,  the  ship  was  fit 
for  any  eye  to  light  on,  like  a  conscious  beauty  going  forth 

144 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

conquering  and  to  conquer.     I  doubt  the  crew  grumbled 

and  d d  a  little  under  their  breath,  for  the  process  was 

tedious;  yet  it  was  not  only  a  fad,  but  necessary,  and  the 
deck-officer  who  habitually  neglected  it  might  possibly  rise 
to  an  emergency,  but  was  scarcely  otherwise  worth'  his 
salt.  In  my  humble  judgment,  he  had  better  have  worn  a 
frock-coat  unbuttoned. 

Occupation  in  plenty  was  not  the  only  solace  of  a  morn- 
ing watch;  at  least  in  the  trades.  While  the  men  were 
washing  their  clothes,  the  midshipman  of  the  watch,  amid 
the  exhilaration  of  his  coffee,  and  with  the  cool  sea-water 
careering  over  his  bare  feet,  had  ample  leisure  to  watch  the 
break  of  day:  the  gradual  lighting  up  of  the  zenith,  the 
rosy  tints  gathering  and  growing  upon  the  tiny,  pearly 
trade-clouds  of  which  I  have  spoken,  the  blue  of  the  water 
gradually  revealing  itself,  laughing  with  white-caps,  hke 
the  Psahnist's  valleys  of  corn;  until  at  last  the  sun  ap- 
peared, never  direct  from  the  sea,  but  from  these  white 
cloud  banks  which  extend  less  than  five  degrees  above  it. 
Such  a  scene  presents  itself  day  after  day,  day  after  day, 
monotonous  but  never  wearisome,  to  a  vessel  running  down 
the  trades;  that  is,  steering  from  east  to  west,  with  fixed, 
fair  breeze,  as  I  have  more  than  once  had  the  happiness  to 
do.  Then,  as  the  saying  was,  a  fortnight  passed  without 
touching  brace  or  tack,  because  no  change  of  wind;  a  slight 
exaggeration,  for  frequent  squalls  required  the  canvas  to 
be  handled,  but  substantially  true  in  impression.  Balmy 
weather  and  a  steady  gait,  rarely  more  than  seven  or  eight 
knots — less  than  two  hundred  miles  a  day;  but  who  would 
be  in  haste  to  quit  such  conditions,  where  the  sun  rose 
astern  daily  with  the  joy  of  a  giant  ruAiing  his  course, 
bringing  assurance  of  prosperity,  and  sank  to  rest  ahead 
smiling,  again  behind  the  dimpHng  clouds  which  he  tinged 
like  mother-of-pearl. 

Such  was  not  our  lot  in  the  Congress,  for  we  were  bound 

145 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

south,  across  the  trades.  This,  with  some  bad  luck,  brought 
us  closehauled,  that  we  might  pass  the  equator  nothing  to 
the  westward  of  thirty  degrees  of  west  longitude;  otherwise 
we  might  fall  to  leeward  of  Cape  St.  Roque.  This  ominous 
phrSse  meant  that  we  might  be  so  far  to  the  westward  that 
the  southeast  trades,  when  reached,  would  not  let  the  ship 
pass  clear  of  this  easternmost  point  of  Brazil  on  one  stretch; 
that  we  would  strike  the  coast  north  of  it  and  have  to  beat 
round,  which  actually  happened.  Consequently  we  never 
had  a  fair  wind,  to  set  a  studding-sail,  till  we  were  within 
three  or  four  days  of  Bahia.  This  encouraging  incident, 
the  first  of  the  kind  since  the  ship  went  into  commission, 
also  befell  in  one  of  my  mid-watches,  and  an  awful  mess 
om-  unuse  made  of  it.  All  the  gear  seemed  to  be  bent  with  a 
half-dozen  round  turns;  the  stu'nsail-yards  went  aloft  wrong 
end  uppermost,  dangling  in  the  most  extraordinary  and 
wholly  unmanageable  attitudes;  everything  had  to  be  done 
over  and  over  again,  till  at  last  the  case  looked  desperate. 
Finally  the  lieutenant  of  the  watch  came  forward  in  wrath. 
He  was  a  Kentuckian,  very  competent,  ordinarily  very 
good-tempered;  but  there  was  red  in  liis  hair.  When  he 
got  sufficiently  near  he  tucked  the  spealdng-trumpet  under 
his  arm,  where  it  looked  micommonly  like  a  fat  cotton 
umbrella,  himself  suggesting  a  farmer  inspecting  an  in- 
tended purchase,  and  in  this  posture  delivered  to  us  a 
stump  speech  on  our  shortcomings.  This,  I  fear,  I  wiU 
have  to  leave  to  the  reader's  imagination.  It  would  re- 
quire innumerable  dashes,  and  even  so  the  emphasis  would 
be  lost.  My  relief  had  cause  to  be  pleased  that  those 
stun'sails  were  set  by  four  o'clock,  when  he  came  on  deck. 
Ours  the  labor,  his  the  reward. 

A  few  days  more  saw  us  in  Bahia;  and  with  our  arrival 
on  the  station  began  a  round  of  duties  and  enjoyments 
which  made  life  at  twenty  pleasant  enough,  both  in  the 

146 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

passage  and  in  retrospect,  but  which  scarcely  afford  ma- 
terial for  narration.     Oiu-  two  chief  }3orts,  Rio  de  Janeiro 
and  Montevideo,  were  then  remote  and  provincial.    They 
have  become  more  accessible  and  modern;  but  at  the  time 
of  my  last  visit — already  over  thirty  years  ago — they  had 
lost  in  local  color  and  particular  attraction  as  much  as  they 
had  gained  in  convenience  and  development.     Street-cars, 
double-ended  American  ferry-boats,  electric  lights,  and  all 
the  other  things  for  which  these  stand,  are  doubtless  good ; 
but  they  make  places  seem  less  strange  and  so  less  interest- 
ing.    But  I  suppose  there  must  still  be  in  the  business 
streets  that  pervading  odor  of  rum  and  sugar  which  tells  that 
you  are  in  the  tropics;  still  there  must  be  the  delicious  hot 
calm  of  the  early  morning,  before  the  sea-breeze  sets  in, 
the  fruit-laden  boats  plying  over  the  still  waters  to  the 
ships  of  war;  still  that  brilliant  access  of  life  and  animation 
which  comes  sparkling  in  with  the  sea-breeze,  and  which  can 
be  seen  in  the  offing,  approaching,  long  before  it  enters  the 
bay.    The  balance  of  better  and  worse  will  be  variously  es- 
timated by  various  minds.     The  magnificent  scenery  of  Rio 
remains,  and  must  remain,  short  of  earthquake;  the  Sugar 
Loaf,  the  distant  Organ  mountains,  the  near,  high,  sur- 
rounding hills,  the  numerous  bights  and  diversified  bluffs, 
which  impart  continuous  novelty  to  the  prospect.     It  is 
surprising  that  in  these  days  of  travel  more  do  not  go  just 
to  see  that  sight,  even  if  they  never  put  foot  on  shore; 
though  I  would  not  commend  the  omission.     I  see,  too,  in 
the  current  newspapers,  that  Secretary  Root  has  attrib- 
uted to  the  women  of  Uruguay  to-day  the  charm  which 
we  youngsters  then  f oimd  in  those  who  are  now  their  grand- 
mothers.    As  Mr.  Secretary  cannot  be  very  far  from  my 
own  age,  we  have  here  the  mature  confirmation  of  an  im- 
pression whichotherwise  might  be  attributed  to  the  facility 
of  youth. 
An  interesting,  though  not  very  important,  reminiscence 

147 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

of  things  now  passed  away  was  the  coming  and  going  of 
numerous  vessels,  usually  small,  carrying  the  commercial 
flags  of  the  Hanse  cities,  Bremen,  Hamburg,  and  Lubeck, 
now  superseded  on  the  ocean  by  that  of  the  German  Em- 
pire. Scarcely  a  morning  watch  which  did  not  see  in  its 
earlier  hours  one  or  more  of  these  stealing  out  of  port  with 
the  tail  of  the  land  breeze.  These  remnants  of  the  "  Easter- 
lings,"  a  term  which  now  survives  only  in  "sterling,"  were 
mostly  small  brigs  of  some  two  hundred  tons,  noticeable 
mainly  for  their  want  of  sheer;  that  is,  their  rails,  and  pre- 
sumably their  decks,  were  level,  without  rise  at  the  ex- 
tremities such  as  most  vessels  show. 

Up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  Rio,  thanks  prob- 
ably to  its  remoteness,  had  escaped  the  yellow-fever.  But 
the  soil  and  climate  were  propitious;  and  about  1850  it 
made  good  a  footing  which  it  never  relinquished.  At  the 
time  of  our  cruise  it  was  endemic,  and  we  consequently 
spent  there  but  two  or  three  months  of  the  cooler  season, 
June  to  September.  Even  so,  visiting  the  city  was  per- 
mitted to  only  a  few  selected  men  of  the  foremast  hands. 
The  habits  of  the  seamen  were  still  those  of  a  generation 
before,  and  drink,  with  its  consequent  reckless  exposure, 
was  a  right-hand  man  to  Yellow  Jack.  All  shore  indulgence 
was  confined  to  Montevideo,  where  we  spent  near  half  of 
the  year;  and  being  limited  to  one  or  two  occasions  only,  of 
two  or  three  days  duration  each,  it  was  signalized  by  those 
excesses  which,  in  conjunction  with  the  absence  of  half 
the  crew  at  once,  put  an  end  to  all  ordinary  routine  and 
drill  on  board.  My  friend,  the  captain  of  the  forecastle, 
who  apprehended  that  the  Southern  leaders  would  lose 
their  property,  a  self-respecting,  admirably  behaved  man 
in  ordinary  times,  was  usually  hoisted  on  board  by  a  tackle 
when  he  returned;  for  Montevideo  affords  only  an  open 
roadstead  for  big  ships,  and  frequently  a  rough  sea.  The 
story  ran  that  he  secured  a  room  on  going  ashore,  provided 

148 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION     , 

for  the  safety  of  his  money,  bought  a  box  of  gin,  and  went 
to  bed.  This  I  never  verified;  but  I  remember  a  nautical 
philosopher  among  the  crew  enlarging,  in  my  hearing,  on 
the  folly  of  drink.  To  its  morality  he  was  indifferent;  but 
from  sad  experience  he  avouched  that  it  incapacitated  you 
for  other  enjoyments,  regular  and  •irregular,  and  that  he 
for  one  should  quit.  To-day  things  are  changed — revolu- 
tionized. There  may  be  ports  too  sickly  to  risk  lives  in; 
but  the  men  to  be  selected  now  are  the  few  who  cannot 
be  trusted,  the  percentage  which  every  society  contains. 
This  result  will  be  variously  interpreted.  Some  will  at- 
tribute it  to  the  abolition  of  the  grog  ration,  the  removal 
of  temptation,  a  change  of  environment.  Others  will  say 
that  the  extension  of  frequent  leave,  and  consequent  oppor- 
tunity, has  abolished  the  frenzied  inclination  to  make  the 
most — not  the  best — of  a  rare  chance;  has  renewed  men 
from  within.  Personally,  I  believe  the  last.  Together 
with  the  gradual  rise  of  tone  throughout  society,  rational 
liberty  among  seamen  has  resulted  in  rational  indulgence. 
"Better  England  free  than  England  sober." 

In  the  end  it  was  from  Montevideo  that  we  sailed  for 
home  in  June,  1861.  During  the  preceding  six  months, 
mail  after  mail  brought  us  increasing  ill  tidings  of  the 
events  succeeding  the  election  of  Lincoln.  Somewhere 
within  that  period  a  large  American  steamboat,  of  the 
type  then  used  on  Long  Island  Sound,  arrived  in  the  La 
Plata  for  passenger  and  freight  service  between  Mon- 
tevideo and  Buenos  Ay  res.  Her  size  and  comfort,  her 
extensive  decoration  and  expanses  of  gold  and  white,  un- 
known hitherto,  created  some  sensation,  and  gave  abun- 
dant supply  to  local  paragraphists.  Her  captain  was  a 
Southerner,  and  his  wife  also;  of  male  and  female  types. 
He  commented  to  me  briefly,  but  sadly,  "Yes,  we  have 
now  two  governments";  but  she  was  all  aglow.  Never 
would  she  lay  down  arms;  M.  Ollivier's  light  heart  was 

149 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

"not  in  it"  with  hers;  her  countenance  shone  with  joy, 
except  when  clouded  with  contempt  for  the  craven  ac- 
tion of  the  Star  of  the  West,  a  merchant-steamer  with  sup- 
pUes  for  Fort  Sumter  which  had  turned  back  before  the 
fire  of  the  Charleston  batteries.  Never  could  she  have 
done  such  a  thing.  What  influence  women  wield,  and  how 
irresponsible!    And  they  want  votes! 

In  feeling,  most  of  us  stood  where  this  captain  did,  sor- 
rowful, perplexed;  but  in  feeling  only,  not  in  purpose.  We 
knew  not  which  became  us  most,  grief,  or  stern  satisfac- 
tion that  at  last  a  doubtful  matter  was  to  be  settled  by 
arms;  but,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  there  was  no  hesi- 
tancy, I  believe,  on  the  part  of  the  officers  as  to  the  side 
each  should  take.  There  were  four  pronounced  Southern- 
ers: two  of  them  messmates  of  mine,  from  New  Orleans. 
The  other  two  were  the  captain  and  lieutenant  of  marines. 
None  of  these  was  extreme,  except  the  captain,  whom, 
thovigh  well  on  in  middle  life,  I  have  seen  stamp  vip  and 
down  raging  with  excitement.  On  one  occasion,  so  violent 
was  his  language  that  I  said  to  him  he  would  do  well  to 
put  ice  to  his  head;  an  impertinence,  considering  our 
relative  ages,  but  almost  warranted.  I  tliink  that  he  pos- 
sibly took  over  the  lieutenant,  who  was  from  a  border 
State,  and,  Uke  the  midshipmen,  rather  sobered  than  en- 
thusiastic at  the  prospects;  though  these  last  had  no 
doubts  as  to  their  own  course.  There  was  also  a  sea  lieu- 
tenant from  the  South,  who  said  to  me  that  if  his  State 
was  fool  enough  to  secede,  she  might  go,  for  him;  he  would 
not  fight  against  her,  but  he  would  not  follow  her.  I 
believe  he  did  escape  having  to  fight  in  her  waters,  but  he 
was  in  action  on  the  Union  side  elsewhere,  and,  I  expect, 
revised  this  decision.  This  halting  allegiance,  thinking 
to  serve  two  masters,  was  not  frequent;  but  there  were 
instances.  Of  one  such  I  knew.  He  told  me  himself  that 
he  on  a  certain  occasion  had  said  in  company  that  he  would 

150 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

not  leave  the  navy,  but  would  try  for  employment  out- 
side the  country;  whereon  an  officer  standing  by  said  to 
him  that  that  appeared  a  pretty  shabby  thing,  to  take  pay 
and  dodge  duty.  The  remark  sank  deep;  he  changed  his 
mind,  and  served  with  great  gallantry.  It  seems  to  me 
now  almost  an  impiety  to  record,  but,  knowing  my  father's 
warm  love  for  the  South,  I  hazarded  to  the  marine  captain 
a  doubt  as  to  his  position.  He  replied  that  there  could  be 
no  doubt  whatever.  "All  your  father's  antecedents  are 
military;  there  is  no  military  spirit  in  the  North;  he  must 
come  to  us."  Many  Southerners,  not  by  any  means  most, 
had  formed  such  impressions. 

The  remainder  of  the  officers  were  not  so  much  North- 
ern as  Union,  a  distinction  which  meant  much  in  the  feel- 
ing that  underlies  action.  Our  second  heutenant,  with  so- 
berer appreciation  of  conditions  than  the  marine,  said  to 
me,  "  I  cannot  understand  how  those  others  expect  to  win 
in  the  face  of  the  overpowering  resources  of  the  Northern 
States."  The  leaders  of  the  Confederacy,  too,  understood 
this;  and  while  I  am  sure  that  expected  dissension  in  the 
North,  and  interference  from  Europe,  counted  for  much 
in  their  compHcated  calculations,  I  imagine  that  the 
marine's  overweighted  theory,  of  incompatibihty  between 
the  mercantile  and  military  temperaments,  also  entered 
largely.  My  Kentuckian  expressed  the  characteristic,  if 
somewhat  crude,  opinion,  that  the  two  had  better  fight 
it  out  now,  till  one  was  well  licked;  after  which  his  head 
should  be  punched  and  he  be  told  to  be  decent  hereafter. 
We  had,  however,  one  Northern  fire-eater  among  the  mid- 
shipmen. He  was  a  plucky  fellow,  but  with  an  odd  cast  to 
his  eyes  and  a  slight  malformation,  which  made  his  ec- 
stasies of  wrath  a  Httle  comical.  His  denunciations  of  all 
half  measures,  or  bounded  sentiments,  quite  equalled  those 
of  the  marine  officer  on  the  other  side.  If  the  two  had  been 
put  into  the  same  ring,  little  could  have  been  left  but  a 

151 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

few  rags  of  clothes,  so  completely  did  they  lose  their  heads; 
but,  as  often  happens  with  such  champions,  their  harangues 
descended  mostly  on  quiet  men,  conveniently  known  as 
doughfaces. 

Doughfaces  I  suppose  we  must  have  been,  if  the  term 
applied  fitly  to  those  who,  between  the  alternatives  of  dis- 
solving the  Union  and  fighting  one  another,  were  longing 
to  see  some  third  way  open  out  of  the  dilemma.  In  this 
sense  Lincoln,  with  his  life-long  record  of  opposition  to  the 
extension  of  slavery,  was  a  doughface.  The  marine  could 
afford  to  harden  his  face,  because  he  believed  there  would 
be  no  war — the  North  would  not  fight;  wliile  the  midship- 
man, rather  limited  intellectually,  was  happy  in  a  mental 
constitution  which  could  see  but  one  side  of  a  case;  an  ele- 
ment of  force,  but  not  of  conciHation.  The  more  reflective 
of  my  two  Southern  messmates,  a  man  mature  beyond  his 
years,  said  to  me  sadly,  "  I  suppose  there  will  be  bloodshed 
beyond  what  the  world  has  known  for  a  long  time;"  but 
he  naturally  shared  the  prevalent  opinion — so  often  dis- 
proved— that  a  people  resolute  as  he  believed  his  own 
could  not  be  conquered,  especially  by  a  commercial  com- 
munity—  the  proverbial  ''nation  of  shopkeepers."  Na- 
poleon once  had  behoved  the  same,  to  his  ruin.  Commer- 
cial considerations  undoubtedly  weigh  heavily;  but  happily 
sentiment  is  still  stronger  than  the  dollar.  An  amusing 
instance  of  the  pocket  influence,  however,  came  to  my 
knowledge  at  the  moment.  Our  captain's  son  received 
notice  of  his  appointment  as  lieutenant  of  marines,  and 
sailed  for  home  in  an  American  merchant-brig  shortly  be- 
fore the  news  came  of  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter.  When  I 
next  met  him  in  the  United  States,  he  told  me  that  the 
brig's  captain  had  been  quite  warmly  Southern  in  feeling 
during  the  passage;  but  when  they  reached  home,  and 
found  that  Confederate  privateers  had  destroyed  some  mer- 
chant-vessels, he  went  entirely  over.    He  had  no  use  for 

152 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

people  who  would  "rob  a  poor  man  of  his  ship  and 
cargo." 

Our  orders  home,  and  tidings  of  the  attack  on  Fort 
Sumter,  came  by  the  same  mail,  some  time  in  June. 
There  were  then  no  cables.  The  revulsion  of  feeling  was 
immediate  and  universal,  in  that  distant  community  and 
foreign  land,  as  it  had  been  two  months  before  in  the 
Northern  States.  The  doughfaces  were  set  at  once,  like 
a  flint.  The  grave  and  reverend  seigniors,  resident  mer- 
chants, who  had  checked  any  belligerent  utterance  among 
us  with  reproachful  regret  that  an  American  should  be 
willing  to  fight  Americans,  were  converted  or  silenced. 
Every  voice  but  one  was  hushed,  and  that  voice  said, 
"Fight."  I  remember  a  tempestuous  gathering,  an  even- 
ing or  two  before  we  sailed,  and  one  middle-aged  invalid's 
excited  but  despondent  wish  that  he  was  five  hundred  men. 
Such  ebullitions  are  common  enough  in  history,  for  causes 
bad  or  good.  They  are  to  be  taken  at  their  true  worth; 
not  as  a  dependable  pledge  of  endurance  to  the  end,  but 
as  an  awakening,  which  differs  from  that  of  common  times 
as  the  blast  of  the  trumpet  that  summoned  men  at  mid- 
night for  Waterloo  differs  from  the  lazy  rubbing  of  the 
eyes  before  thrusting  one's  neck  into  the  collar  of  a  work- 
ing day.  The  North  was  roused  and  united ;  a  result  which 
showed  that,  wittingly  or  unwittingly,  the  Union  leaders 
had  so  played  the  cards  in  their  hands  as  to  score  the  first 
trick. 

Our  passage  home  was  tedious  but  uneventful.  I  re- 
member only  the  incident  that  the  flag-officer  on  one  occa- 
sion played  at  old-time  warfare  of  his  youth,  by  showing 
to  a  passing  vessel  a  Spanish  flag  instead  of  the  American. 
The  common  ship  life  went  on  as  though  nothing  had  hap- 
pened. On  an  August  evening  we  anchored  in  Boston 
lower  harbor,  and  Mr.  Robert  Forbes,  then  a  very  promi- 
nent character  in  Boston,  and  in  most  nautical  matters 

153 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

throughout  the  country,  came  down  in  a  pilot-boat,  bring- 
ing newspapers  to  our  captain,  with  whom  he  was  intimate. 
Then  we  first  learned  of  Bull  Run;  and  properly  mortified 
we  of  the  North  were,  not  having  yet  acquired  that  indif- 
ference to  a  licking  which  is  one  of  the  first  steps  towards 
success.  Some  time  after  the  war  was  over  an  army 
officer  of  the  North  repeated  to  me  the  comment  on  this 
affair  made  to  him  by  a  Southern  acquaintance,  both  being 
of  the  aforetime  regular  army.  "I  never,"  he  said,  "saw 
men  as  frightened  as  ours  were — except  yours."  The  after 
record  of  both  parties  takes  all  the  sting  out  of  these  words, 
without  lessening  the  humor. 

Immediately  upon  arrival,  the  oath  of  allegiance  was 
tendered,  and,  of  course,  refused  by  our  four  Southerners. 
They  had  doubtless  sent  in  their  resignations;  but  by  that 
time  resignations  were  no  longer  accepted,  and  in  the 
following  Navy  Register  they  appeared  as  "dismissed." 
They  were  arrested  on  board  the  ship  and  taken  as  prisoners 
to  Fort  Lafayette.  I  never  again  saw  any  of  them;  but 
from  tune  to  time  heard  decisively  of  the  deaths  of  all, 
save  the  lieutenant  of  marines.  One  of  the  midshipmen 
drew  from  my  father  an  action  which  I  have  delighted  to 
recall  as  characteristic.  He  wrote  from  the  fort,  stating 
his  comradeship  with  me  in  the  past,  and  asking  if  he  could 
be  furnished  with  certain  mihtary  reading,  for  his  improve- 
ment and  to  pass  time.  Though  suspicions  of  loyalty  were 
rife,  and  in  those  days  easily  started  by  the  most  trivial 
communication,  the  books  were  sent.  The  war  had  but 
just  ended,  when  one  morning  my  father  received  a  letter 
expressing  thanks,  and  enclosing  money  to  the  supposed 
value  of  the  books.  The  money  was  returned;  but  I,  hap- 
pening to  be  at  home,  replied  on  my  own  account  in  such 
maimer  as  a  very  young  man  would.  My  father  saw  the 
addressed  envelope,  and  remonstrated.  "  Do  you  think  it 
({uite  well  and  prudent  to  associate  yourself,  at  your  age 

154 


FIRST  CRUISE  AFTER  GRADUATION 

and  rank,  with  one  so  recently  in  rebellion?  Will  it  not 
injure  your  standing?"  I  was  not  convinced;  but  I  yield- 
ed to  a  solicitude  which  under  much  more  hazardous  con- 
ditions he  had  not  admitted  for  himself,  though  known  to 
be  a  Virginian.  Shortly  after  his  death,  while  our  sorrow 
was  still  fresh,  I  met  a  contemporary  and  military  intimate 
of  his.  "I  want,"  he  said,  "to  tell  you  an  anecdote  of 
your  father.  We  were  associated  on  a  board,  one  of  the 
members  of  which  had  proposed,  as  his  own  suggestion,  a 
measure  which  I  thought  fundamentally  and  dangerously 
erroneous.  I  prepared  a  paper  contesting  the  project  and 
took  it  to  your  father.     He  read  it  carefully,  and  replied, 

*  I  agree  with  you  entirely ;  but will  never  forgive  you, 

and  he  is  persistent  and  unrelenting  towards  those  who 
thwart  him.  You  will  make  a  life-long  and  powerful  enemy. 
If  I  were  you,  I  should  not  lay  this  upon  myself.'  I  gave 
way  to  his  judgment,  and  kept  back  the  paper;  but  you  may 
imagine  my  surprise  when  at  the  next  meeting  he  took 
upon  himself  the  burden  which  he  had  advised  me  to  shun. 
He  made  an  argimient  substantially  on  my  lines,  and  pro- 
cured the  rejection  of  the  proposition.  The  result  was  a 
hostility  which  ceased  only  with  his  hfe,  but  between  which 
and  me  he  had  interposed." 


VII 

INCIDENTS    OF   WAR   AND    BLOCI^DE    SERVICE 

1861—1862 

The  Congress,  upon  her  return,  was  retained  in  com- 
mission, though  entirely  useless,  either  for  fighting  or  block- 
ade, under  modern  conditions.  I  suppose  there  were  not 
yet  enough  of  newer  vessels  to  spare  her  value  as  a  fig- 
ure-head. She  was  sent  afterwards  to  Hampton  Roads, 
where  in  the  following  March  she,  with  another  sailing- 
frigate,  the  Cumberland,  fell  helpless  victims  to  the  first 
Confederate  iron-clad.  The  staff  of  combatant  sea  officers 
was  much  changed;  the  captain,  the  senior  three  heuten- 
ants,  and  the  midshipmen  being  detached.  Smith,  the 
fourth  lieutenant,  remained  as  first;  and,  in  the  absence  of 
her  captain  on  other  duty,  commanded  and  fell  at  her 
death  agony.  I  was  sent  first  to  the  James  Adger,  a  pas- 
senger-steamer then  being  converted  in  New  York  for 
blockade  duty,  for  which  she  was  very  fit;  but  in  ten  days 
more  I  was  moved  on  to  the  Pocahontas,  a  ship  built  for 
war,  a  very  respectable  little  steam-corvette,  the  only  one 
of  her  class— if  such  a  bull  as  a  class  of  one  may  be  excused. 
She  carried  one  ten-inch  gun  and  four  32-pounders,  all 
smooth-bores.  There  was,  besides,  one  small  nondescript 
*  rifled  piece,  upon  which  we  looked  with  more  curiosity 
than  confidence.  Indeed,  unless  memory  deceive,  the  pro- 
jectiles from  it  were  quite  as  apt  to  go  end  over  end  as 
true.  It  was  rarely  used. 
When  I  joined,  the  Pocahontas  was  lying  off  the  Wash- 

156 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCI^DE  SERVICE 

ington  Navy- Yard,  in  the  eastern  branch  of  the  Potomac, 
on  duty  connected  with  the  patrol  of  the  river;  the  Vir- 
gil^ bank  of  which  was  occupied  by  the  Confederates,  who 
were  then  erecting  batteries  to  dispute  the  passage  of 
vessels.  After  one  excursion  down-stream  in  this  employ- 
ment, the  ship  was  detached  to  the  combined  expedition 
against  Port  Royal,  South  Carolina,  the  naval  part  of 
which  was  under  the  command  of  '' Flag-OfRcer "  Dupont. 
The  point  of  assembly  was  Hampton  Roads,  whither  we 
shortly  proceeded,  after  filling  with  stores  and  receiving 
a  new  captain,  Percival  Drayton,  a  man  greatly  esteemed 
in  the  service  of  the  day,  and  a  South-Carolinian,  Coin- 
cidently  with  us,  but  independently  as  to  association,  the 
steam-sloop  Seminole,  slightly  larger,  also  started.  We 
outstripped  her;  and  as  we  passed  a  position  where  the 
Confederates  were  believed  to  be  fortifying,  our  captain 
threw  in  a  half-dozen  shells.  No  reply  was  made,  and  we 
went  on.  Within  a  half-hour  we  heard  firing  behind  us, 
apparently  two-sided.  The  ship  was  turned  round  and 
headed  up-river.  In  a  few  minutes  we  met  the  Seminole, 
her  men  still  at  the  guns,  a  few  ropes  dangling  loose,  show- 
ing that  she  had,  as  they  say,  not  been  exchanging  salutes. 
We  had  stirred  up  the  hornets,  and  she  had  got  the  benefit; 
quite  uselessly,  her  captain  evidently  felt,  by  his  glum  face 
and  short  answers  to  our  solicitous  hail.  He  was  naturally 
put  out,  for  no  good  could  have  come,  beyond  showing  the 
position  of  the  enemy's  guns;  while  an  awkward  hit  might 
have  sent  her  back  to  the  yard  and  lost  her  her  share  in 
the  coming  fray,  one  of  the  earliest  in  the  war,  and  at  that 
instant  the  only  thing  in  sight  on  the  naval  horizon.  As 
no  harm  resulted,  the  incident  would  not  be  worth  men- 
tioning except  for  a  second  occasion,  which  I  will  mention 
later,  in  which  we  gave  the  Seminole's  captain  cause  for 
grim  dissatisfaction. 
The  gathering  of  the  clans,  the  ships  of  war  and  the  trans- 

157 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

ports  laden  with  troops,  in  the  lower  Chesapeake  had  of 
course  a  strange  element  of  excitement;  for  war,  even  in 
its  incipiency,  was  new  to  almost  all  present,  and  the  en- 
thusiasm aroused  by  a  great  cause  and  approaching  con- 
flict was  not  balanced  by  that  solemnizing  outlook  which 
experience  gives.     We  lived  in  an  atmosphere  of  blended 
exaltation  and  curiosity,  of  present  novelty  and  glowing 
expectation.     But  business  soon  came  upon  us,  in  its  or- 
dinary lines;  for  we  were  not  two  days  clear  of  the  Capes, 
in  early  November,  when  there  came  on  a  gale  of  excep- 
tional violence,  the  worst  of  it  at  midnight.     It  lasted  for 
forty-eight  hours,  and  must  have  occasioned  great  anxiety 
to  the  heads  of  the  expedition;  for  among  the  curious 
conglomerate  of  heterogeneous  material  constituting  both 
the  ships  of  war  and  transports  there  were  several  river 
steamers,  some  of  them  small.     Being  utterly  unpractised 
in  such  movements,  an  almost  entire  dispersal  followed; 
in  fact,  I  dare  say  many  of  the  transport  captains  asked 
nothing  better  than  to  be  out  of  other  people's  way.    The 
Pocahontas  found  herself  alone  next  morning;  but,  though 
small  and  slow,  she  was  a  veritable  sea-bird  for  wind  and 
wave.    Not  so  all.     One  of  our  extemporized  ships  of  war, 
rejoicing  in  the  belligerent  name  of  Isaac  Smith,  and  carry- 
ing eight  fairly  heavy  guns,  which  would  have  told  in  still 
water,  had  to  throw  them  all  overboard ;  and  her  share  in  the 
subsequent  action  was  limited  to  a  single  long  piece,  rifled 
I  believe,  and  to  towing  a  sailing-corvette  in  the  column. 
There  were  some  wrecks  and  some  gallant  rescues,  the 
most  conspicuous  of  which  was  that  of  the  battalion  of 
marines,  embarked  on  board  the  Governor;  a  steamer,  as 
I  recollect,  not  strictly  of  the  river  order,  but  like  those 
which  ply  outside  on  the  Boston  and  Maine  coast.     She 
went  down,  but  not  before  her  living  freight  had  been  re- 
moved by  the  sailing-frigate  Sahine.    The  first  lieutenant 
of  the  latter,  now  the  senior  rear-admiral  on  the  retired  list 

158 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

of  the  navy,  soon  afterwards  relieved  Drayton  in  command 
of  the  Pocahontas;  so  that  I  then  heard  at  first  hand  many 
particulars  which  I  wish  I  could  now  repeat  in  his  well- 
deserved  honor.  His  distinguished  share  in  the  rescue  was 
of  common  notoriety;  the  details  only  we  learned  from 
his  modest  but  interesting  accomit.  The  deliverance  was 
facilitated  by  the  two  vessels  being  on  soundings.  The 
Governor  anchored,  and  then  the  Sabine  ahead  of  her, 
dropping  down  close  to.  The  ground-tackle  of  our  naval 
ships,  as  we  abundantly  tested  during  the  war,  would  hold 
through  anything,  if  the  bottom  let  the  anchor  grip. 

With  very  few  exceptions  all  were  saved,  officers  and 
privates;  but  their  clothes,  except  those  they  stood  in,  were 
left  behind.  The  colonel  was  a  notorious  martinet,  as  well 
as  something  of  a  character;  and  a  story  ran  that  one  of  the 
subalterns  had  found  himself  at  the  start  unable  to  appear 
in  some  detail  of  uniform,  his  trunks  having  gone  astray. 
"A  good  soldier  never  separates  from  his  baggage,"  said 
the  colonel,  gruffly,  on  hearing  the  excuse.  After  various 
adventures,  common  to  missing  personal  effects,  the  lieu- 
tenant's trunks  turned  up  at  Port  Royal.  He  looked 
sympathetically  at  the  colonel's  shorn  plumes  and  meagre 
array,  and  said,  reproachfully,  "Colonel,  where  are  your 
trunks?  A  good  soldier  should  never  separate  from  his 
baggage."  But,  doubtless,  to  follow  it  to  the  bottom  of 
the  sea  would  be  an  excess  of  zeal. 
.  Not  long  afterwards  I  was  shipmate  with  an  assistant 
surgeon  who  had  been  detailed  for  duty  on  board  the 
Governor,  and  had  passed  through  the  scenes  of  anxiety 
and  confusion  preceding  the  rescue.  He  told  me  one  or 
two  amusing  incidents.  An  order  being  given  to  lighten 
the  ship,  four  marines  ran  into  the  cabin  where  he  was 
lying,  seized  a  marble-top  table,  dropped  the  marble  top 
on  deck,  and  threw  the  wooden  legs  overboard.  There 
was  also  on  board  a  very  young  naval  officer,  barely  out  of 

159 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

the  Academy.  He  was  of  Dutch  blood  and  name — from 
central  Pennsylvania,  I  think.  Although  without  much 
experience,  he  was  of  the  constitutionally  self-possessed  or- 
der, which  enabled  him  to  be  very  useful.  After  a  good 
deal  of  exertion,  he  also  came  into  the  cabin.  The  surgeon 
asked  him  how  things  looked.  "  I  think  she  will  last  about 
half  an  hour,"  he  replied,  and  then  composedly  lay  down 
and  went  to  sleep. 

There  was  in  the  hero  of  this  anecdote  a  vein  of  eccen- 
tricity even  then,  and  he  eventually  died  insane  and  young. 
I  knew  him  only  slightly,  but  familiarly  as  to  face.  He 
had  mild  blue  eyes  and  curly  brown'  hair,  with  a  constant 
half-smile  in  eyes  as  well  as  mouth.  In  temperament  he 
was  Dutch  to  the  backbone — at  least  as  we  imagine  Dutch. 
A  comical  anecdote  was  told  me  of  him  a  few  years  later, 
illustrating  his  self-possession — cool  to  impudence.  He  was 
serving  on  one  of  our  big  steam-sloops,  a  flag-ship  at  the 
time,  and  had  charge  of  working  the  cables  on  the  gun- 
deck  when  anchoring.  Going  into  a  port  where  the  water 
was  very  deep — Rio  de  Janeiro,  I  beheve — the  chain  cables 
"got  away,"  as  the  expression  is;  control  was  lost,  and 
shackle  after  shackle  tore  out  of  the  hawse-holes,  leaping 
and  thumping,  rattling  and  roaring,  stirring  a  lot  of  dust 
besides.  Indeed,  the  violent  friction  of  iron  against  iron 
in  such  cases  not  infrequently  generates  a  stream  of  sparks. 
The  weight  of  twenty  fathoms  of  this  linked  iron  mass 
hanging  outside,  aided  by  the  momentum  already  estab- 
lished by  the  anchor's  fall  through  a  hundred  feet,  of  course 
drags  after  it  all  that  lies  unstoppered  within.  I  need  not 
tell  those  who  have  witnessed  such  a  commotion  that  the 
orderly  silence  of  a  ship  of  war  breaks  down  somewhat. 
Every  one  who  has  any  right  to  speak  shouts,  and  repeats, 
in  rapid  succession,  "Haul-to  that  chain!  Why  the  some- 
thing or  other  don't  you  haul-to?"  while  the  unhappy  com- 
pressor-men, saving  their  own  wind  to  help  their  arms, 

160 


.  INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE   SERVICE 

struggle  wildly  with  the  situation,  under  a  storm  of  obloquy. 
The  admiral — by  this  time  we  had  admirals — was  a  singu- 
lar man,  something  of  a  lawyer,  acute,  thinking^he  knew 
just  how  far  he  might  go  in  any  case,  and  given  at  times 
to  taking  liberties  with  subordinates,  which  were  not  to 
them  always  as  humorous  as  they  seemed  to  him.  In  this 
instance  he  miscalculated  somewhat.  He  was  on  deck  at 
the  moment,  and  when  the  chain  had  been  at  last  stopped 
and  secured,  he  said  to  the  captain,  "  Alfred,  send  for  the 
young  man  in  charge  of  those  chains,  and  give  him  a  good 
setting-down.  Ask  liim  what  he  means  by  letting  such 
things  happen.  Ride  liim  down  like  a  main-tack,  Alfred- 
like  the  main-tack!"  The  main-tack  is  the  chief  rope  con- 
troUing  the  biggest  sail  in  the  ship,  and  at  times,  close  on 
the  wind,  it  has  to  be  got  down  into  place  by  the  brute 
force  of  half  a  hundred  men,  inch  by  inch,  pull  by  pull. 
That  is  called  riding  down,  and  is  clearly  a  process  the 
reverse  of  conciliatory.  The  Dutchman  was  sent  for,  and 
soon  his  questioning  blue  eyes  appeared  over  the  hatch 
coaming.  Alfred — as  my  own  name  is  Alfred,  I  may  ex- 
plain that  I  was  not  that  captain — Alfred  was  a  mild  per- 
son, and  clearly  did  not  hke  his  job;  he  could  not  have 
come  up  to  the  admiral's  standard.  The  latter  saw  it,  and 
intervened:  "Perhaps  you  had  better  leave  it  to  me.  I'll 
settle  him."  Fixing  his  eyes  on  the  offender,  he  said,  stern- 
ly, "What  do  you  mean  by  this,  sir?  Why  the  h — 1  did 
you  not  stop  that  chain?"  This  exordimn  was  doubtless 
the  prelude  to  a  fit  oratorical  display;  but  the  culprit,  look- 
ing quietly  at  him,  replied,  simply,  "How  the  h — 1  could 
I?"  This  was  a  shift  of  wind  for  which  the  admiral  was 
unprepared.  He  was  taken  flat  back,  like  a  screaming 
child  receiving  a  glass  of  cold  water  in  his  face.  After  a 
moment's  hesitation  he  turned  to  the  captain,  and  said 
meekly,  yet  with  evident  humorous  consciousness  of  a 
checkmate,  "That's  true,  Alfred;  how  the  h— 1  could  he?" 

161 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

Still,  while  the  defence  implied  in  the  lieutenant's  ques- 
tion is  logically  unimpeachable,  it  does  not  follow  that  the 
method  of  the  admiral — as  distinct  from  his  manner,  which 
need  not  be  excused — was  irrational.  The  impulse  of  rep- 
rimand, applied  at  the  top,  where  ultimate  responsibility 
rests,  is  transmitted  through  the  intervening  links  down  to 
the  actual  culprits,  and  takes  effect  for  future  occasions. 
As  Marryat  in  one  of  his  amusing  passages  says :  "  The  mas- 
ter's violence  made  the  boatswain  violent,  which  made  the 
boatswain's  mate  violent,  and  the  captain  of  the  forecastle 
also;  all  which  is  practically  exemplified  by  the  laws  of 
motion  commmiicated  from  one  body  to  another;  and  as 
the  master  swore,  so  did  the  boatswain  swear,  and  the  boat- 
swain's mate,  and  the  captain  of  the  forecastle,  and  all  the 
men."  An  entertaining  practical  use  of  this  transmission 
of  energy  was  made  by  an  acquaintance  of  mine  in  China. 
Going  to  bed  one  night,  he  found  himself  annoyed  by  a 
mosquito  within  the  net.  He  got  up,  provided  himself 
with  the  necessities  for  his  own  comfort  during  the  period 
of  discomfort  which  he  projected  for  others,  and  called  the 
servant  whose  business  it  was  to  have  crushed  the  in- 
truder. Him  he  sent  in  search  of  the  man  next  above  him, 
him  in  turn  for  another,  and  so  on  until  he  reached  the 
head  of  the  domestic  hierarchy.  When  the  whole  body  was 
assembled,  he  told  them  that  they  were  summoned  to  re- 
ceive the  information  that  "one  piecee  mosquito"  was  in- 
side his  net,  owing  to  the  neglect  of — pointing  to  the  cul- 
prit. This  done,  they  were  dismissed,  in  calm  assurance 
that  in  future  no  mosquito  would  disturb  his  night's  rest, 
and  that  the  desirable  castigation  of  the  offender  might 
be  intrusted  to  his  outraged  companions. 

After  the  gale  subsided,  the  Pocahontas  proceeded  for 
the  rendezvous,  just  before  reaching  which  we  fell  in  with  a 
coal-schooner.  Though  a  good  fighting-ship,  she  carried 
only  sixty-three  tons  of  coal,  anthracite;  for  that  alone 

162 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

we  then  used  to  burn.  The  amount  seems  too  absurd  for 
bcUef,  and  it  constituted  a  very  serious  embarrassment  on 
such  duty  as  that  of  the  South  Carohna  and  Georgia  coasts. 
To  economize,  so  as  to  remain  as  long  as  possible  away  from 
the  base  at  Port  Royal,  and  yet  to  have  the  ship  ready  for 
speedy  movement,  was  a  difficult  problem;  indeed,  insolu- 
ble. We  used  to  meet  it  by  keeping  fires  so  low,  when 
lying  inside  the  blockaded  rivers,  that  we  could  not  move 
promptly.  This  was  a  choice  between  evils,  which  the 
event  justified,  but  which  might  have  been  awkward  had 
the  Confederates  ever  made  a  determined  attempt  at  board- 
ing with  largely  superior  force  in  several  steamers,  as  hap- 
pened at  Galveston,  and  once  even  by  pulling  boats  in  a 
Georgia  river.  Under  steam,  the  battery  could  be  handled ; 
anchored,  an  enemy  could  avoid  it.  With  this  poor  "  coal 
endurance,"  as  the  modern  expression  has  it,  the  captain 
decided  to  fill  up  as  he  could.  We  therefore  took  the 
schooner  in  tow,  and  were  transferring  from  her,  when  the 
sound  of  cannonading  was  heard.  Evidently  the  attack 
had  begun,  and  it  was  incumbent  to  get  in,  not  only  on 
general  principles,  but  for  the  captain's  own  reputation; 
for  although  in  service  he  was  too  well  known  to  be  doubted, 
the  outside  world  might  see  only  that  he  was  a  South  Caro- 
linian. It  was  recognition  of  this,  I  doubt  not,  that  led 
Admiral  Dupont,  when  we  passed  the  flag-ship  after  the 
action,  to  hail  aloud,  "  Captain  Drayton,  I  knew  you  would 
be  here;"  a  public  expression  of  official  confidence.  We 
were  late,  however,  as  it  was;  probably  because  our  short 
coal  supply  had  compelled  economical  steaming,  though 
as  to  this  my  memory  is  uncertain.  The  Pocahontas 
passed  the  batteries  after  the  main  attack,  in  column  on 
an  elliptical  course,  had  ceased,  but  before  the  works 
had  been  abandoned;  and  being  alone  we  received  pro- 
portionate attention  for  the  few  moments  of  passage. 
The  enemy's  fire  was  "good  line,  but  high;"  our  main- 

163 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

mast  was  irreparably  wounded,  but   the   hull  and  crew 
escaped. 

After  the  action  there  followed  the  usual  scene  of  jolli- 
fication. The  transports  had  remained  outside,  and  now 
steamed  up ;  bands  playing,  troops  hurrahing,  and  with  the 
general  expenditure  of  wind  from  vocal  organs  which  seems 
the  necessary  concomitant  of  such  occasions.  And  here 
the  Pocahontas  again  brought  the  Seminole  to  grief.  She 
had  anchored,  but  we  kept  under  way,  steaming  about 
through  the  throng.  Drayton  had  binoculars  in  hand; 
and,  while  himself  conning  the  ship,  was  livelily  interested 
in  what  was  passing  around.  I  believe  also  that,  though 
an  unusually  accomplished  officer  professionally,  he  had 
done  a  good  deal  of  staff  duty;  had  less  than  the  usual 
deck  habit  of  his  period.  Besides,  men  used  mostly  to 
sails  seemed  to  think  steamers  could  get  out  of  any  scrape 
at  any  moment.  '  However  that  be,  after  a  glance  to  see 
that  we  were  rightly  headed  for  a  clear  opening,  he  began 
gazing  about  through  his  glasses,  to  the  right  hand  and  to 
the  left.  He  had  lost  thought  of  the  tide,  and  in  such 
circumstances  as  ours  a  very  few  seconds  does  the  business. 
^Vlien  he  next  looked,  we  were  sweeping  down  on  the  Sem- 
inole without  a  chance  of  retreat;  there  was  nothing  but 
to  go  ahead  fast,  and  save  the  hulls  at  least  from  collision. 
Her  flying  jib-boom  came  in  just  behind  our  main-mast 
(we  had  only  two  masts);  and  as  the  current  of  course 
was  setting  us  down  steadily,  the  topping-lifts  of  our  huge 
main  boom  caught  her  jib-boom.  Down  came  one  of  the 
big  blocks  from  our  masthead,  narrowly  missing  the  cap- 
tain's head,  while  we  took  out  of  her  all  the  head  booms 
as  far  as  the  bowsprit  cap,  leaving  them  dragging  in  help- 
less confusion  by  her  side.     Then  we  anchored. 

It  is  a  nuisance  to  have  to  clear  a  wreck  and  repair 
damages;  and  the  injured  party  does  not  immediately  re- 
cover his  equanimity  after  such  a  mishap,  especially  com- 

164 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

ing  fresh  upon  a  former  instance  of  trouble  occasioned  bare- 
ly a  fortnight  before.  But  after  a  victory  all  things  are 
forgiven,  and  the  more  so  to  a  man  of  Drayton's  well-de- 
served popularity.  A  little  later  in  the  day  he  went  on 
board  the  flag-ship  to  visit  the  admiral.  When  I  met  him 
at  the  gangway  upon  his  return,  I  had  many  questions 
to  ask,  and  among  others,  "Have  you  learned  who  com- 
manded the  enemy?"  "Yes,"  he  replied,  with  a  half- 
smile;  "it  was  my  brother." 

Very  soon  afterwards  he  left  us,  before  we  again  quitted 
port.  He  was  dissatisfied  with  the  Pocahontas,  partly  on 
account  of  her  coal  supply;  and  the  captain  of  the  Pawnee 
then  going  home,  he  obtained  command  of  her.  The 
Pawnee  was  sui  generis;  in  this  like  the  Pocahontas,  only  a 
good  deal  more  so,  representing  somebody's  fad.  I  can- 
not vouch  for  the  details  of  her  construction;  but,  as  I 
heard,  she  was  not  only  extremely  broad  in  the  beam,  giv- 
ing great  battery  space, — which  was  plain  to  see, — but  the 
bilge  on  each  side  was  reported  to  come  lower  than  the 
keel,  making,  as  it  were,  two  hulls,  side  by  side,  so  that  a 
sarcastic  critic  remarked,  "  One  good  point  about  her  is, 
that  if  she  takes  the  ground,  her  keel  at  least  is  protected." 
Like  all  our  vessels  at  that  time,  she  was  of  wood.  Owing  to 
her  budld,  she  had  for  her  tonnage  very  light  draught  and 
heavy  battery,  and  so  was  a  capital  fighting-ship  in  still, 
shoal  waters;  but  in  a  seaway  she  rolled  so  rapidly  as  to  be 
a  wretched  gun  platform.  Her  first  lieutenant  assured  me 
that  in  heavy  weather  a  glass  of  water  could  not  get  off  the 
table.  "Before  it  has  begun  to  shde  on  one  roll,  she  is 
back  on  the  other,  and  catches  it  before  it  can  start."  This 
description  was  perhaps  somewhat  pictm-esque — impres- 
sionist, as  we  now  say;  but  it  successfully  conveyed  the 
idea,  the  object  of  all  speech  and  impressions.  However 
satisfactory  for  glasses — not  too  full — it  may  be  imagined 
that  under  such  conditions  it  would  be  difficult  to  draw 

165 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

sight  on  a  target  between  rolls.  Whatever  her  defects,  the 
Pawnee  was  adniu-ably  adapted  for  the  inland  work  of 
which  there  was  much  in  those  parts,  behind  the  sea  isl- 
ands; and  she  continued  so  employed  throughout  the  war. 
I  met  her  there  as  late  as  the  last  six  months  of  it.  But 
she  was  not  reproduced,  and  remains  to  memory  only;  an 
incident  of  the  speculative  views  and  doubting  progresses 
of  the  decade  before  the  War  of  Secession. 

Drayton's  successor  was  one  of  the  senior  lieutenants  of 
the  fleet,  George  B.  Balch,  late  the  first  of  the  Sabine  frigate. 
His  services  in  saving  the  people  of  the  Governor  have  al- 
ready been  mentioned.  He  still  survives  in  venerable  old 
age;  but  Drayton,  who  later  on  was  with  Farragut  at 
Mobile,  being  captain  of  the  flag-ship  Hartford  and  chief  of 
staff  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  forts,  was  cut  off 
prematurely  by  a  short  illness  within  six  months  after  hos- 
tiUties  ended.  Balch  remained  with  us  till  the  Pocahontas 
returned  North,  ten  months  later.  He  was  an  officer  of 
varied  service,  and  like  all  such,  some  more,  some  less, 
abounded  in  anecdote  of  his  own  experiences.  A  great  deal 
that  might  be  instructive,  and  more  still  that  is  entertain- 
ing, is  lost  by  our  slippery  memories  and  the  rarity  of  the 
journal-keeping  habit.  I  remember  distinctly  only  two 
of  his  stories.  One  related  to  a  matter  which  now  belongs 
to  naval  archaeology,—"  backing  and  filling  in  a  tideway, " 
by  a  ship  under  sail.  In  this,  in  a  winding  channel,  the  ship 
sets  towards  her  destination  with  the  current,  up  or  down, 
carrying  only  enough  canvas,  usually  the  three  topsails, 
to  be  under  control;  to  move  her  a  Httle  ahead,  or  a  little 
astern,  keeping  in  the  strength  of  the  stream,  or  shifting 
position  as  conditions  of  the  navigation  require.  Backing 
is  a  term  which  explains  itself;  filling  applies  to  the  sails 
when  so  trimmed  as  to  move  the  vessel  ahead.  Sometimes 
a  reach  of  the  river  permits  the  sails  to  be  braced  full,  and 
she  bowls  along  merrily  under  way;  anon  a  turn  comes  where 

166 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

she  can  only  lie  across,  balanced  as  to  headway  by  the  main 
topsail  aback.  Then  the  smallest  topsail,  the  mizzen,  has 
a  game  in  its  hands.  The  ship,  as  she  drifts  up  or  down, 
may  need  to  be  moved  a  little  astern,  more  or  less,  to  avoid 
a  shoal  or  what  not;  and  to  do  this  the  sail  mentioned  is 
braced  either  to  shake,  neutralizing  it,  or  to  bring  it  also 
aback,  as  the  occasion  demands.  This  rather  long  pre- 
amble is  perilously  like  explaining  a  joke,  but  it  is  neces- 
sary. Balch  had  seen  a  good  deal  of  this  work  in  China, 
and  he  told  us  that  the  Chinese  pilot's  expression,  if  he 
wanted  the  sail  shaken,  was  "Makee  sick  the  mizzen  toi> 
sail;"  but  if  aback,  he  added,  "Kill  him  dead."  I  wonder 
does  that  give  us  an  insight  into  the  nautical  idiom  of  the 
Chinese,  who  within  the  limitations  of  their  needs  are  prime 
seamen. 

By  the  time  I  got  to  China,  two  years  after  the  War  of 
Secession,  steam  had  relieved  naval  vessels  from  backing 
and  filling.  I  once,  however,  saw  the  principle  applied  to 
a  steamer  in  the  Paraguay  River,  We  were  returning 
from  a  visit  to  Asuncion,  and  had  a  local  pilot,  who  was 
needed  less  for  the  Paraguay,  which  though  winding  is 
fairly  clear,  than  for  the  Parana,  the  lower  stream,  which 
finally  merges  in  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  and  is  constantly 
changing  its  bed.  We  had  anchored  for  the  night  just 
above  a  bend,  head  of  course  up-stream,  for  the  tide  cfoes 
not  reach  so  far.  The  next  morning  the  pilot  was  bothered 
to  turn  her  round,  for  she  was  a  long  paddle  steamer,  not 
very  handy.  He  seemed  to  be  in  a  nautical  quandary, 
similar  to  that  which  the  elder  Mr.  Weller  described  as 
"being  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  road,  backing  into  the 
palings,  and  all  manner  of  unpleasantness."  The  captain 
watched  him  fuming  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  said, 
"Is  there  any  particular  trouble  on  either  hand,  or  is  it 
only  the  narrowness?"  The  pilot  said  no;  the  bottom 
was  clear.     "Well,"  said  the  captain,  "why  not  cast  her 

167 


FROM  vSAIL  TO  STEAM 

to  port,  and  let  her  drift  till  she  heads  fair  for  the  turn  be- 
low?" This  was  done  easily,  and  indeed  was  one  of  those 
things  which  would  be  almost  foolishly  simple  did  we  not 
all  have  experience  of  overlooking  expedients  that  lie  im- 
mediately under  our  noses. 

Balch's  other  story  which  I  recall  was  at  the  moment 
simply  humorous,  but  has  since  seemed  to  me  charged 
with  homely  wisdom  of  wide  application.  He  had  made 
a  rather  longish  voyage  in  a  merchant-steamer,  and  during 
it  used  to  amuse  himself  doing  navigation  work  in  com- 
pany with  her  master,  or  mate.  On  one  occasion  a  dis- 
cussion arose  between  them  as  to  some  result,  and  Balch 
in  the  course  of  the  argument  said,  "Figures  won't  lie." 
"Yes,  that's  all  right,"  rejoined  the  other,  "figures  won't 
lie,  if  you  work  them  right;  but  you  must  work  them  right, 
Mr.  Balch."  I  was  too  young  then  to  have  noted  a  some- 
what similar  remark  about  statistics;  and  I  think  now, 
after  a  pretty  long  observation  of  mankind,  its  records 
and  its  statements,  that  I  should  be  inchned  to  extend  that 
old  seaman's  comments  to  facts  also.  Facts  won't  lie,  if 
you  work  them  right;  but  if  you  work  them  wrong,  a  lit- 
tle disproportion  in  the  emphasis,  a  slight  exaggeration  of 
color,  a  little  more  or  less  limelight  on  this  or  that  part 
of  the  grouping,  and  the  result  is  not  truth,  even  though 
each  individual  fact  be  as  unimpeachable  as  the  multiplica- 
tion table. 

After  the  capture  of  Port  Royal,  and  the  establishment 
there  of  the  naval  base,  and  until  the  arrival  of  monitors 
a  year  later,  operations  of  the  South  Atlantic  Blockading 
Squadron,  as  it  was  styled,  were  confined  to  blockading. 
This  took  two  principal  forms.  The  fortifications  of 
Charleston  and  Savannah  being  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  and  intact,  these  two  chief  seaports  of  that  coast 
were  unassailable  by  our  fleet.  Even  after  Fort  Sumter 
had  been  battered  to  a  shapeless  heap  of  masonry,  and 

168 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE   SERVICE 

Fort  Pulaski  had  surrendered,  neither  city  fell  until  Sher- 
man's march  took  it  in  the  rear.  But  the  numerous  in- 
lets were  substantially  undefended  against  naval  attack; 
and  for  them  the  blockade,  that  tremendously  potent  in- 
strument of  the  national  pressure,  the  work  of  which  has 
been  too  little  commemorated,  was  instituted  almost  uni- 
versally within.  Even  Fort  Pulaski,  before  its  fall,  though 
it  sealed  the  highway  to  Savannah,  could  not  prevent  the 
Union  vessels  from  occupying  the  inside  anchorage  off 
Tybee  Island,  completely  closing  the  usual  access  from 
the  sea  to  the  town.  During  the  ensuing  ten  months 
there  were  very  few  of  these  entrances,  from  Georgetown, 
the  northernmost  in  South  Carolina,  down  to  Fernandina, 
in  Florida,  into  which  the  Pocahontas  did  not  penetrate, 
alone  or  in  company.  I  do  not  know  whether  people  in 
other  parts  of  the  coimtry  reahze  that  these  various  inlets 
are  connected  by  an  inside  navigation,  behind  the  sea 
islands,  as  they  are  called,  the  whole  making  a  system  of 
sheltered  intercommunication.  The  usefulness  of  this  was 
reinforced  by  the  numerous  navigable  rivers  which  afford 
water  roads  to  the  interior,  and  gave  a  vessel,  once  entered, 
refuge  beyond  the  reach  of  the  blockaders'  arm,  with  ready 
means  for  distribution.  Such  a  gift  of  nature  to  a  com- 
munity, however,  has  the  defects  of  its  qualities.  Ease  of 
access,  and  freedom  of  movement  in  all  directions,  now 
existed  for  foe  as  it  had  for  friend,  and  the  very  facility 
which  such  surroundings  bestow  had  prevented  the  timely 
creation  of  an  alternative.  Deprival  consequently  was 
doubly  severe. 

It  thus  came  to  pass  that,  by  a  gradual  process  of  elimina- 
tion, blockade  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  word,  blockade 
outside,  became  confined  to  Charleston  and  its  approaches. 
It  is  true  that  much  depended  on  the  class  of  vessel.  It 
was  obviously  inexpedient  to  expose  sailing-ships  where 
they  might  be  attacked  by  steamers,  in  ground  also  too 

169 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

contracted  for  manoeuvring;  and  two  years  later  I  found 
myself  again  blockading  Georgetown,  in  a  paddle  steamer 
from  the  merchant  service,  the  size  and  unwieldiness  of 
which  prevented  her  entering.  Moreover,  torpedoes  had 
then  begun  to  play  a  part  in  the  war,  though  still  in  a 
very  primitive  stage  of  development.  But  in  1862  there 
was  little  outside  work  except  at  Charleston.  The  very 
reasons  which  determine  the  original  selection  of  a  port — 
facility  for  entrance,  abimdant  anchorage,  and  ease  of  ac- 
cess to  the  interior  for  distribution  and  receipt  of  the  arti- 
cles of  commerce — determine  also  the  accumulation  of  de- 
fences, to  the  exclusion  of  other  less  favored  localities.  All 
these  conditions,  natural  and  artificial,  combined  with  the 
Union  occupancy  of  the  other  inlets  to  concentrate  block- 
ade-running upon  Charleston.  This  in  turn  drew  thither 
the  blockaders,  which  had  to  be  the  more  numerous  be- 
cause the  harbor  could  be  entered  by  two  or  more  chan- 
nels, widely  separated.  There  was  thus  constituted  a 
blockade  society,  which  contrasted  agreeably  with  the 
somewhat  hermit-Hke  existence  of  the  smaller  stations. 
The  weather  was  usually  pleasant  enough — many  Northern- 
ers now  know  the  winter  climate  of  South  Carolina — so 
during  the  daytime  the  ships  would  lift  their  anchors  and 
get  more  or  less  together;  the  officers,  and  to  a  less  extent 
the  crews,  exchanging  visits.  Old  acquaintanceships  were 
renewed,  former  cruises  discussed,  "yarns"  interchanged; 
and  then  there  was  always  the  war  with  its  happenings. 
Fort  Henry,  Fort  Donelson,  Shiloh,  the  Monitor  and  Merri- 
mac  fight,  the  capture  of  New  Orleans  by  Farragut,  all  oc- 
curred during  the  stay  of  the  Pocahontas  upon  the  blockade 
in  1862.  Our  news  was  apt  to  be  ten  days  old,  but  to  us 
it  was  as  good  as  new;  indeed,  somewhat  better,  for  we 
heard  of  the  first  reverses  at  Shiloh,  and  by  the  hands  of 
the  Merrimac,  by  the  same  mail  which  brought  word  of 
the  final  decided  victory.     Thus  we  were  spared  the  anx- 

170 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

iety  of  suspense.  Even  the  disasters  about  Richmond  were 
not  by  us  fairly  appreciated  until  the  ship  returned  North, 
when  the  mortification  of  defeat  was  somewhat  solaced, 
and  the  tendency  to  despondency  lessened,  by  the  happi- 
ness of  being  again  at  home;  in  my  case  after  a  continuous 
absence  of  more  than  three  years,  in  the  Congress  and 
Pocahontas. 

Talking  of  despondency,  I  had  an  odd  experience  of  the 
ease  with  which  people  forget  their  frames  of  mind.  While 
Burnside  was  engaged  in  the  movements  preceding  Fred- 
ericksburg, I  was  in  conversation  with  a  veteran  naval 
officer  at  his  own  house.  Speaking  of  the  probable  out- 
come of  the  operations  in  progress,  which  then  engrossed 
all  thoughts,  he  said  to  me,  "I  think,  Mr.  Mahan,  that  if 
we  fail  this  time,  we  may  as  well  strike";  the  naval  phrase 
"strike  the  colors"  being  the  equivalent  of  surrender — 
give  up.  I  dissented  heartily;  not  from  any  really  rea- 
soned appreciation  of  conditions,  but  on  general  principles, 
as  understood  by  a  man  still  very  young.  More  than  two 
years  later,  when  the  war  had  just  drawn  to  its  trium- 
phant close,  I  again  met  the  same  gentleman.  Amid  our 
felicitations,  he  said  to  me,  "There  is  one  thing,  Mr. 
Mahan,  which  I  have  never  allowed  myself  to  doubt — the 
ultimate  success  of  our  just  cause." 

After  all,  it  was  very  natural.  When  you  are  cold, 
you're  cold,  and  when  you're  hot,  you're  hot;  and  if  you 
are  indiscreet  enough  to  say  so  to  some  one  who  feels  dif- 
ferently, he  remembers  it  against  you.  What  business 
have  you  to  feel  other  than  he?  If,  with  the  thermometer 
at  zero,  I  chance  to  say  that  I  wish  it  were  warmer,  I  am 
sure  of  some  one,  a  lady  usually,  bursting  in  upon  me  when 
it  is  ninety-five,  with  the  jeer,  "Well!  I  hope, now,  you  are 
satisfied/^  I  recall  distinctly  the  long  faces  we  pulled  when 
we  reached  Philadelphia  on  our  return,  and  realized,  by 
the  withdrawal  of  McClellan's  army  to  Washington,  the 

171 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

full  extent  of  our  disasters  on  the  Peninsula;  my  old  com- 
modore might  then  have  found  some  to  say,  Amen.  But 
this  did  not  keep  our  hats  any  lower  when  we  chucked  them 
aloft  over  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg,  and  forgot  that  we 
had  ever  felt  otherwise. 

Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg,  by  the  way,  and  their  coin- 
cidence with  the  Fourth  of  July,  have  furnished  me  with  a 
reminiscence  quite  otherwise  agreeable.  The  ship  in  which 
I  then  was  spent  that  Fourth  at  Spithead,  England.  We 
dressed  ship  with  multicolored  signals,  red,  white,  and 
blue,  at  every  yard-arm,  big  American  ensigns  at  the  three 
mast-heads  and  the  peak,  presenting  a  singularly  gay  and 
joyful  aspect,  which  could  profitably  be  viewed  from  as 
many  points  as  Mr.  Pecksniff  looked  at  Salisbury  Cathedral. 
At  noon  we  fired  a  national  salute,  all  the  more  severely 
punctilious  and  observant,  because  by  the  last  mail  things 
at  home  seemed  to  be  looking  particularly  blue.  The 
British  ships  of  war,  though  I  fear  few  of  their  officers 
then  were  other  than  pleased  with  our  presumed  discom- 
fiture, dressed  likewise,  as  by  naval  courtesy  bound,  and 
also  fired  a  salute.  The  Times  of  the  day  arrived  from 
London  in  due  season,  and  had  improved  the  occasion  to 
morahze  upon  the  sad  condition  to  which  the  Republic 
of  Bunker  Hill  and  Yorktown  was  reduced :  Grant  held  up 
at  Vicksburg,^  Lee  marching  victoriously  into  Pennsyl- 
vania, no  apparent  probability  of  escaping  disaster  in  either 
quarter.  The  conclusion  was  couched  in  that  vein  of 
Pecksniffian  benevolence  of  which  wc  hear  so  much  in  lif(i. 
"  Let  us  hope  that  so  much  adversity  may  be  tempered  to 
a  nation,  afflicted  with  evil  as  unprecedented  as  its  former 

1  On  referring  to  the  file  of  the  Times,  I  find  that  the  forecast  coii- 
ceniing  Vicksburg  occurred  in  the  issue  of  July  1st.  "It  is  not  im- 
probable we  may  hear  that  General  Grant  has  been  obliged  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Vicksburg."  It  is  surprising  to  note  of  how  secondary  im- 
portance the  Vicksburg  issue  appears  to  have  been  thought  at  the  time. 

172 


INCIDEiNTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCIvADE  SERVICE 

prosperity;  and  this  will  indeed  be  the  case  if  America 
...  is  led  on  this  day  of  festivity,  now  converted  into  a 
day  of  humiliation,  to  review  past  errors,  and  to  consider 
that,  if  her  present  policy  has  led  her  so  near  ruin,  in  its 
reversal  must  lie  the  only  path  that  can  conduct  her  to 
safety."  I  wonder,  if  there  had  been  a  cable,  would  that 
editorial  have  been  headed  off.     It  was  not. 

"And  there  it  stands  iinto  this  day, 
To  witness  if  I  lie." 

It  was  bitter  then  to  my  taste ;  but  sweet  were  the  chuckles 
which  I  later  had,  when  the  actual  transactions  of  that 
anniversary  came  to  hand. 

Whatever  their  sympathies,  the  British  naval  officers 
during  that  stay  in  British  waters  had  no  difficulty  in  pay- 
ing us  all  the  usual  personal  attentions;  but  a  particular 
incident  showed  for  our  susceptibilities  a  nicety  of  con- 
sideration, which  could  not  have  been  exacted  and  was 
very  grateful  at  the  time.  We  were  at  Plymouth,  under 
the  breakwater,  but  some  distance  from  the  inner  anchor- 
age, when  a  merchant-vessel  lying  inside  hoisted  a  Con- 
federate flag  at  her  mizzen  mast-head.  We  saw  it,  but  of 
course  could  do  nothing.  It  was  a  clear  case  of  intended 
insult,  for  the  ship  had  no  claim  to  the  flag,  and  could  only 
mean  to  flaunt  us.  It  flew  for  perhaps  an  hour,  and  then 
disappeared.  The  same  day,  and  not  long  afterwards,  a 
British  lieutenant  from  a  vessel  in  the  harbor  came  on 
board,  and  told  me  that  he  had  had  it  hauled  down,  acting 
in  place  of  his  captain,  who  was  absent.  The  commmiica- 
tion  to  me,  also  momentarily  in  command,  was  purely  per- 
sonal; indeed,  there  was  nothing  official  in  the  whole  trans- 
action, nor  do  I  know  by  what  means  or  by  what  authority 
he  could  insist  upon  the  removal  of  the  flag.  However 
managed,  the  thing  was  done,  and  with  the  purpose  of 
stopping  a  rudeness  which,  it  is  true,  reflected  more  upon 

173 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

the  port  than  upon  us,  for  I  think  the  offending  vessel  was 
British.  Very  many  years  afterwards  I  had  occasion  to 
quote  this,  when,  during  the  Boer  War,  on  the  visit  of  a 
British  squadron  to  one  of  our  seaside  resorts,  a  resident 
there  thought  to  show  American  breeding  by  hoisting  the 
Four-Color.  In  the  late  winter  of  1863-64  I  again  met 
this  officer  and  his  ship  in  New  Orleans.  In  conversation 
then  he  told  me  he  did  not  believe  the  Union  cause  could 
succeed;  that  he,  with  others,  looked  to  see  three  or  four 
nations  formed.  In  the  same  month  of  1863  this  anticipa- 
tion would  not  have  surprised  me;  but  in  1864  it  did,  al- 
though Grant  had  not  yet  begun  his  movement  upon 
Richmond. 

Blockading  was  desperately  tedious  work,  make  the  best 
one  could  of  it.  The  largest  reservoir  of  anecdotes  was  sure 
to  run  dry;  the  deepest  vein  of  original  humor  to  be  worked 
out.  I  remember  hearing  of  two  notorious  tellers  of  stories 
being  pitted  against  each  other,  for  an  evening's  amuse- 
ment, when  one  was  driven  as  a  last  resource  to  recounting 
that  "Mary  had  a  little  lamb."  We  were  in  about  that 
case.  Charleston,  however,  was  a  blooming  garden  of 
social  refreshment  compared  with  the  wilderness  of  the 
Texas  coast,  to  which  I  found  myself  exiled  a  year  or  so 
later;  a  veritable  Siberia,  cold  only  excepted.  Charleston 
was  not  very  far  from  the  Chesapeake  or  Delaware,  in  dis- 
tance or  in  time.  Supply  vessels,  which  came  periodically, 
and  at  not  very  long  intervals,  arrived  with  papers  not  very 
late,  and  with  fresh  provisions  not  very  long  slaughtered ;  but 
by  the  time  they  reached  Galveston  or  Sabine  Pass,  which 
was  our  station,  their  news  was  stale,  and  we  got  the  bot- 
tom tier  of  fresh  beef.  The  ship  to  which  I  there  belonged 
was  a  small  steam-corvette,  which  with  two  gunboats  consti- 
tuted all  the  social  possibilities.  Hai^pily  for  myself,  I  did 
not  join  till  midway  in  the  corvettes 's  stay  off  the  port, 
which  lasted  in  all  nearly  six  months,  before  she  was  re- 

174 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

called  in  mercy  to  New  Orleans.  I  have  never  seen  a  body 
of  intelligent  men  reduced  so  nearly  to  imbecility  as  my 
shipmates  then  were. 

One  of  my  captains  used  to  adduce,  as  his  conception 
of  the  extreme  of  isolation,  to  be  the  keeper  of  a  lightship 
off  Cape  Horn;  a  professional  conceit  rivalling  the  elder 
Mr.  Weller's  equally  profound  recognition  of  the  connec- 
tion between  keeping  a  pike  and  misanthropy.     We  off 
Sabine  Pass  were  banished  about  equally  with  the  keeper 
of  a  turnpike  or  of  a  remote  lightship.     We  ought,  of  course, 
to  have  improved  the  leisure  which  weighed  so  heavily  on 
our  hands;  but  the  improvement  of  idle  moments  is  an 
accomplishment  of  itself,  as  many  a  retired  business  man 
has  found  out  too  late.    There  is  an  impression,  derived 
from  the  experience  of  passengers  on  board  ocean  steamers, 
that  naval  officers  have  an  abundance  of  spare  time.    The 
ship,  it  seems  assumed,  runs  itself;  the  officers  have  only 
to  look  on  and  enjoy.    As  a  matter  of  fact,  sea  officers 
under  normal  conditions  are  as  busy  as  the  busiest  house- 
keeper, with  the  care  to  boot  of  two,  three,  four,  or  five 
hundred  children,  to  be  kept  continually  doing  as  they 
should;  the  old  woman  who  lived  in  the  shoe  had  a  good 
thing  in  comparison.    Thus  occupied,  the  leisure  habit  of 
self-improvement,  other  than  in  the  practice  of  the  calling, 
is  not  formed.     At  sea,  on  a  voyage,  the  vicissitudes  of  suc- 
cessive days  provide  the  desultory  succession  of  incidents, 
which  vary  and  fill  out  the  tenor  of  occupations,  keeping 
life  full  and  interesting.    In  port,  besides  the  regular  and 
fairly  engrossing  routine,  there  are  the  resources  of  the 
shore  to  fill  up  the  chinks.     But  the  dead  monotony  of  the 
blockade  was  neither  sea  nor  port.     It  supplied  nothing. 
The  crew,  once  drilled,  needed  but  a  few  moments  each 
day  to  keep  at  the  level  of  proficiency;  and  there  was  prac- 
tically nothing  to  do,  because  nothing  happened  that  re-  • 
quired  either  a  doing  or  an  imdoing. 

175 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

Under  such  conditions  even  a  gale  of  wind  was  a  not  un- 
welcome change.  Although  little  activity  was  required  to 
meet  it,  it  at  least  presented  new  surroundings — something 
different  from  the  daily  outlook.  After  a  very  brief  peri- 
od, it  became  the  rule  to  ride  out  the  storms  at  anchor; 
and  I  remember  one  of  our  volunteer  officers,  who  had 
connnanded  a  merchant-ship  for  some  years,  saying  that 
he  would  have  been  spared  a  good  deal  of  trouble,  on  occa- 
sions, had  he  had  our  experience  of  holding  on  with  an 
anchor  instead  of  keeping  under  way.  "  It  was,  however, 
an  old  if  forgotten  expedient,  where  anchorage  ground  was 
good — bottom  sticky  and  water  not  too  deep.  In  the  an- 
cient days  of  the  French  wars,  the  British  fleets  off  Brest 
and  Toulon  had  to  keep  under  way,  but  that  blockading 
Cadiz,  in  1797-98,  used  to  hold  its  position  at  anchor,  and 
mider  harder  conditions  than  ours;  for  there  the  worst  gales 
blew  on  shore,  whereas  ours  swept  chiefly  along  the  coast. 
A  standing  dispute  in  the  British  navy,  in  those  days  of 
hemp  cables,  used  to  be  whether  it  was  safer  to  ride  with 
three  anchors  down,  or  with  one  only,  having  to  it  three 
cables,  bent  together,  so  as  to  form^one  of  thrice  the  usual 
length.  The  balance  of  opinion  leaned  to  the  latter;  the 
dead  weight  of  so  much  hemp  held  the  ship  without  trans- 
mitting the  strain  to  the  anchor  itself.  She  "rode  to  the 
bight,"  as  the  expression  was;  that  is,  to  the  cable,  curved 
by  its  own  weight  and  length,  lying  even  in  part  on  the 
bottom,  which  prevented  its  tightening  and  pulling  at  the 
anchor.  What  was  true  of  hemp  was  yet  more  true  of 
iron  chains.  The  Pocahontas  used  to  veer  to  a  hundred 
fathoms,  and  there  lie  like  a  duck  in  fifty  or  sixty  feet  of 
water.  I  remember  on  one  occasion,  however,  that  when 
we  next  weighed  the  anchor,  it  came  up  with  parts  polished 
bright,  as  in  my  childhood  we  used  sometimes  to  burnish 
a  copper  cent.  This  seemed  to  show  that  it  had  been 
scoured  hard  along  a  sandy  bottom.     We  had  had  no  sus- 

176 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

picion  of  the  ship's  dragging  during  the  gale,  and  I  have 
since  supposed  that  it  may  have  started  from  its  bed  as 
we  began  to  heave,  and  so  been  scrubbed  along  towards  us. 
The  problem  of  maintaining  the  health  of  ships'  com- 
panies condemned  to  long  months  of  salt  provisions,  and 
to  equally  depressing  short  allowance  of  social  salt  for  the 
intellect,  which  reasonable  beings  crave,  has  to  be  ever 
present  to  those  charged  with  administration.  Nelson's 
"cattle  and  onions"  sums  up  in  homely  phrase  the  first  re- 
quirement; while,  for  the  others,  his  policy  during  a  weary 
two  years,  in  which  he  himself  never  left  the  flag-ship,  was 
to  keep  the  vessels  in  constant  movement,  changing  scene, 
and  thereby  maintaining  expectation  of  something  excit- 
ing turning  up.  "Our  men's  minds,"  he  said,  "are  always 
kept  up  with  the  daily  hopes  of  meeting  the  enemy."  As 
the  Confederacy  had  practically  no  navy,  this  particular 
distraction  was  debarred  our  blockaders;  but  in  the  mat- 
ter of  food,  we  in  the  early  sixties  had  not  got  beyond  his 
prescription  for  the  opening  years  of  the  century.  The  primi- 
tive methods  then  still  in  vogue,  for  preserving  meats  and 
vegetables  fresh,  accomplished  chiefly  the  making  them  per- 
fectly tasteless,  and  to  the  eye  uninviting;  the  palate,  ac- 
customed to  the  constant  stimulant  of  salt,  twrned  from 
"bully"  (bouilH)  beef  and  "desecrated"  (dessicatcd)  pota- 
toes, jaded  before  exercise.  Like  liquor,  salt,  long  used  in 
large  measures,  at  last  becomes  a  craving.  I  have  heard 
old  seamen  more  than  once  say,  "I  must  have  my  salt;" 
and  I  have  even  known  one  to  express  his  utter  weariness 
of  the  fresh  butter  France  sends  up  with  its  morning  coffee 
and  rolls.  So  we  on  the  blockade  depended  more  upon  the 
good  offices  of  salt  than  upon  those  of  tin  cans,  for  giving 
us  acceptable  food ;  the  consequence  being,  with  us  as  with 
our  British  forebears,  a  keen  physical  demand  for  "  cattle 
and  onions."  In  one  principal  respect  our  supplies  dif- 
fered from  theirs — in  the  profusion  of  ice  afforded  by  our 

177 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEMI 

country.  Our  beef,  therefore,  came  to  us  already  butch- 
ered, while  theirs  was  received  on  the  hoof.  Many  of  my 
readers  doubtless  will  recall  the  adventures  of  Mr.  Mid- 
shipman Easy,  when  in  charge  of  the  transport  from 
Tetuan  with  bullocks  for  the  fleet  off  Toulon.  Onions — 
blessings  on  their  heads,  if  they  have  any — came  to  both  us 
and  our  predecessors  as  easily  as  they  were  welcome.  I  have 
sometimes  heard  the  plea,  that  Nature  is  the  best  guide 
in  matters  of  appetite,  advanced  for  indulgences  which,  so 
construed,  seemed  to  reflect  upon  her  parental  character; 
but  there  can  be  no  such  doubt  concerning  onions  to  a 
system  well  saturated  with  salt.  When  you  see  them  you 
know  what  you  want;  and  a  half-dozen  raw,  with  a  simple 
salad  dressing,  were  little  more  than  a  whetter  on  the 
blockade.  Would  it  be  possible  now  to  manage  a  single 
one? 


VIII 

INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE— CONTINUED 

1863—1865. 

The  Pocahontas  came  North  for  repairs  in  the  late  sum- 
mer of  1862,  and  after  a  brief  leave  I  was  ordered  to  the 
Naval  Academy.  Under  the  stress  of  the  war,  this  had 
been  broken  out  from  its  regular  seat  at  Annapolis  and 
transferred  for  the  moment  to  Newport.  All  the  arrange- 
ments were  temporary  and  extemporized.  The  principal 
establishment,  housing  the  three  older  classes,  was  in  a 
building  in  the  town  formerly  known  as  the  Atlantic  Hotel; 
while  the  new  entries,  who  were  very  numerous,  were  quar- 
tered on  two  sailing-frigates,  moored  head  and  stern  in  the 
inner  harbor,  off  Goat  Island.  This  duplex  arrangement 
necessitated  a  double  set  of  officers,  not  easy  to  be  had 
with  war  going  on;  the  more  so  that  the  original  corps  had 
been  depleted  by  the  resignations  of  Southern  men.  The 
embarrassment  arising  from  the  immediate  scantness  of 
officers  led  naturally,  if  perhaps  somewhat  irreflectively,  to 
a  great  number  of  admissions  to  the  Naval  Academy,  dis- 
regardful  of  past  experience  with  the  '41  Date,  and  of  the 
future,  when  room  at  the  top  would  be  lacking  to  take  in 
all  these  youngsters  as  captains  and  admirals.  Thus  was 
constituted  the  "hump,"  as  it  came  to  be  called,  which, 
like  a  tumor  on  the  body,  engaged  at  a  later  day  the  atten- 
tion of  many  professional  practitioners.  As  it  would  not 
absorb,  and  as  the  rough-and-ready  methods  by  which  civil 
life  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest  deal  with  such  conditions 

179 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

could  not  be  applied,  it  had  to  be  dissipated;  a  process 
ultimately  carried  out  with  indifferent  success.  While  it 
lasted  it  caused  many  a  heartache  from  postponement.  As 
one  of  the  sufferers  said,  when  hearing  the  matter  dis- 
cussed, "I  don't  know  about  this  or  that.  All  I  know  is 
that  I  have  been  a  lieutenant  for  twenty  years."  Owing 
to  the  slimness  of  the  service  in  the  lower  grades  they  be- 
came lieutenants  young;  but  there  they  stuck.  Every 
boom  is  followed  by  such  reaction,  and  for  a  military  ser- 
vice war  is  a  boom.  Expansion  sets  in;  and  when  con- 
traction follows  somebody  is  squeezed.  At  the  end  of  the 
Napoleonic  Wars  there  were  over  eight  hundred  post-cap- 
tains in  the  British  navy.  A¥hat  could  peace  do  for 
them? 

Eight  pleasant  months  I  spent  on  shore  at  the  Acad- 
emy, and  then  was  again  whisked  off  to  sea,  there  to  re- 
main for  substantially  all  the  rest  of  the  war.  Although 
already  prominent  as  a  fashionable  watering-place,  New- 
port then  was  very  far  from  its  present  development;  but 
in  winter  it  had  a  settled  and  pleasant,  if  small,  society. 
At  this  time  I  met  the  widow  of  Captain  Lawrence  of  the 
Chesapeake,  who  survived  mitil  two  years  later.  She  was 
already  failing,  and  not  prematurely;  for  it  was  then,  1862- 
G3,  the  fiftieth  year  since  her  husband  fell.  She  lived  with 
a  sister,  also  the  widow  of  an  officer,  and  was  frequently 
visited  by  her  granddaughter,  the  child  of  Lawrence's 
daughter,  a  singularly  beautiful  girl.  I  remember  her 
pointing  to  me  a  picture  of  the  defeat  of  the  Peacock  by 
the  Hornet,  under  her  grandfather's  command;  on  which, 
she  laughingly  said,  she  had  been  brought  up.  This  meet- 
ing had  for  me  not  only  the  usual  interest  which  a  link 
with  the  distant  past  supplies,  but  a  certain  special  as- 
sociation; for  my  grandmother,  then  recently  dead,  had 
known  several  of  Lawrence's  contemporaries  in  the  navy, 
and  my  recollection  is  that  she  told  me  she  had  seen  him 

180 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

leaving  his  wife  at  their  doorstep,  when  departing  to  take 
command  of  the  Chesapeake. 

When  the  summer  of  1863  drew  nigh,  the  question  of  the 
usual  practice  cruise  came  up.  I  have  before  stated  the 
two  opinions :  one  favoring  a  regular  ocean  voyage,  with  its 
customary  routine  and  accidents  of  weather;  the  other 
more  disposed  to  contracted  cruising  in  our  own  waters,  an- 
choring at  night,  and  by  day  following  a  formulated  pro- 
gramme of  varied  practical  exercises.  For  this  year  both 
plans  were  adopted.  There  were  two  practice-ships,  one 
of  which  was  to  remain  between  Narragansett  and  Gardi- 
ner's Bay,  in  Long  Island.  I  was  ordered  as  first  lieutenant 
of  the  other,  which  was  to  go  to  Europe.  The  advisability 
of  this  step  for  a  saiUng-ship  was  on  this  occasion  doubly 
questioned,  for  the  Alabama  had  already  begun  her  career. 
In  fact,  one  of  the  officers  then  stationed  at  the  school  had 
been' recently  captured  by  her,  when  making  a  passage  to 
Panama  in  a  mail-steamer.  I  remember  his  telling  me, 
with  glee,  that  when  the  Alabama  fired  a  shot  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  packet,  called,  I  think,  the  Ariel,  a  number  of 
the  passengers  took  refuge  behind  the  bulkheads  of  the 
upper-deck  saloons,  which,  being  of  light  pine,  afforded  as 
much  protection  as  the  air,  with  the  additional  risk  of 
splinters.  He  hoped  to  escape  observation,  but  the  Con- 
federate boarding-officer  had  been  a  classmate  of  his,  and 
spotted  him  at  once.  Being  paroled,  he  was  for  the  time 
shut  off  from  war  service,  and  was  sent  to  the  Academy, 
He  was  a  singular  man,  by  name  Tecumseh  Steece,  and 
looked  with  a  certain  disdain  upon  the  nal^y  as  a  profes- 
sion. In  his  opinion,  it  was  for  him  only  a  stepping-stone 
to  some  great  future,  rather  undefined.  At  bottom  a  very 
honest  fellow,  with  a  sense  of  duty  which  while  a  midship- 
man had  led  him  to  persist  defiantly  in  a  very  impopular — 
though  very  proper — course  of  action,  he  yet  seemed  to 
see  no  impropriety  in  utterly  neglecting  professional  ac- 

181 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

quirement,  rather  boasting  of  his  ignorance.  The  result 
was  that,  having  been  detailed  for  the  European  cruise,  he 
was  subsequently  detached;  I  think  from  doubt  of  his  fit- 
ness for  the  deck  of  a  sailing-vessel.  While  at  the  Academy 
at  this  time,  he  took  a  first  step  in  his  proposed  career  by 
writing  a  pamphlet,  the  title  and  scope  of  which  I  now  for- 
get; but  unluckily,  by  a  slip  of  the  pen,  he  wrote  on  the 
first  page,  "  We  judge  the  known  by  the  unknown"  This, 
being  speedily  detected,  raised  a  laugh,  and  I  fear  prevent- 
ed most  from  further  exploration  of  a  somewhat  misty 
thesis.  He  was  rather  chummy  with  me,  and  tried  mildly 
to  persuade  me  that  I  also  should  stand  poised  on  the  navy 
for  a  flight  into  the  empyrean ;  but,  if  fain  to  soar,  which  I 
do  not  think  I  was,  like  Raleigh,  I  feared  a  fall.  For  him- 
self, poor  fellow,  weighted  by  his  aspirations,  he  said  to  me, 
"I  don't  fear  death,  I  fear  life;"  and  death  caught  him 
early,  in  1864,  in  the  shape  of  yellow-fever.  One  of  his 
idiosyncrasies  was  a  faith  in  coffee  as  a  panacea;  and  I 
heard  that  while  sickening  he  deluged  himself  with  that 
beverage,  to  what  profit  let  physicians  say. 

The  decision  that  one  of  the  practice-ships  should  go  to 
Europe  had,  I  think,  been  determined  by  the  officer  who 
was  to  have  commanded  the  Macedonian,  the  vessel  chosen 
for  that  purpose.  She  was  not  the  one  of  that  name  capt- 
ured in  1812  by  the  United  States, — the  only  one  of  our 
frigate  captures  brought  into  port, — but  a  successor  to 
the  title.  Before  she  went  into  commission,  the  first  com- 
mander was  detached  to  service  at  the  front;  but  no  change 
was  made  in  Kir  destination,  even  if  any  misgivings  were 
felt.  One  of  my  fellow-officers  at  the  Academy,  who  was 
not  going,  remarked  to  me  pleasantly  that,  if  we  fell  in 
with  the  Alabama,  she  would  work  round  us  like  a  cooper 
round  a  cask;  an  encouraging  simile  to  one  who  has  looked 
upon  that  cheerful  and  much  one-sided  performance.  We 
were  all  too  young — I,  the  senior  lieutenant,  was  but  twenty- 

182 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

two — and  too  light-hearted  to  be  troubled  with  forebod- 
ings; and,  indeed,  there  was  in  reason  no  adequate  induce- 
ment for  the  Confederate  cruiser  to  alter  her  existing  plans 
in  order  to  take  the  Macedonian.  Had  we  come  fairly  in 
her  way,  to  gobble  a  large  percentage  of  the  Naval  Acad- 
emy might  have  been  a  fairly  humorous  practical  joke; 
but  it  could  have  been  no  more.  I  remember  Mr.  Schuy- 
ler Colfax,  afterwards  Vice-President,  then  I  think  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House,  being  on  board,  and  mentioning  the 
subject  to  me.  "After  all,"  he  said,  "I  suppose  it  would 
scarcely  do  for  one  of  our  vessels  to  be  deterred  from  a 
cruise  by  regard  for  a  Confederate  cruiser."  Considering 
the  disparity  of  advantage,  due  to  steam,  I  should  say 
this  would  scarcely  be  a  working  theory,  in  naval  life  or  in 
private.  Our  military  insignificance  was  our  sufficient 
protection.  During  my  cruise  in  the  Congress,  a  ship  much 
heavier  every  way  than  the  Macedonian,  the  commander 
of  one  of  our  corvettes,  substantially  of  the  Alabama  class, 
said  to  our  captain,  "  I  suppose,  if  I  fell  in  with  you  as  an 
enemy,  I  ought  to  attack  you."  "  Well,"  replied  the  other, 
"  if  you  didn't,  you  should  pray  not  to  have  me  on  your 
court-martial." 

The  officer  originally  designated  to  command  the  Mace- 
donian  had  been  very  greatly  concerned  about  the  mid- 
shipmen's provisions :  the  quality  of  which  they  should  be, 
and  the  room  to  be  kept  for  their  stowage.  I  wonder  would 
his  soul  have  been  greatly  vexed  had  he  accompanied  me 
the  first  evening  out,  as  I  inspected  the  steerage  while  they 
were  at  supper?  "What!"  shouted  one  of  them  to  a  ser- 
vant, as  I  passed.  "Wliat!  No  milk?"  The  mingled  con- 
sternation, bereavement,  and  indignation  which  struggled 
for  full  expression  in  the  words  beggar  description.  I  can 
see  his  face  and  hear  his  tones  to  this  day.  Laughable  to 
comedy;  yet  to  a  philosophizing  turn  of  mind  what  an  epit- 
ome of  life!     Do  we  not  at  every  corner  of  experience 

183 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

meet  the  princess  who  felt  the  three  hard  peas  under  the 
fifty  feather-beds?  Sydney  Smith's  friend,  who  had  every- 
thing else  h|e  could  give,  but  realized  only  the  disappoint- 
ing view  out  of  one  of  his  windows?  We  might  dispense 
with  Hague  Conferences.  War  is  going  to  cease  because 
people  adequately  civilized  will  not  endure  hardness. 
Whether  in  the  end  we  shall  have  cause  to  rejoice  in  the 
double  event  remains  to  be  seen.    The  Asiatic  can  endure. 

Among  the  Macedonian's  lieutenants  was  the  late  Ad- 
miral Sampson.  We  had  also  for  deck  officers  two  who 
had  but  just  graduated;  one  of  them  a  young  Frenchman 
belonging  to  the  royal  house  of  Orleans,  who  had  been  per- 
mitted to  take  the  course  at  our  naval  school,  I  presume 
with  a  view  on  his  part  to  possible  contingencies  recalling 
the  monarchy  to  France.  Under  Louis  Philippe,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  family  had  been  prominent  in  the  French  navy, 
as  the  Prince  de  Joinville ;  and  had  commanded  the  squad- 
ron which  brought  back  the  body  of  Napoleon  from  St. 
Helena.  The  representative  with  us  was  a  very  good-tem- 
pered, amiable,  unpresuming  man,  too  young  as  yet  to  be 
formed  in  character.  As  messmates  we  were,  of  course,  all 
on  terms  of  cordial  equahty,  and  one  of  our  number  used 
frequently  to  greet  him  with  effusion  as  "You  old  King." 
He  spoke  English  easily,  though  scarcely  fluently,  and  with 
occasional  eccentricity  of  idiom.  At  the  Academy,  before 
graduation,  he  took  his  turn  with  others  of  his  class  as 
officer  of  the  day,  one  of  whose  duties  was  to  keep  a  journal 
of  happenings.  I  chanced  once  to  inspect  this  book,  and 
found  over  his  signature  an  entry  which  began,  "The 
weather  was  a  dirty  one." 

While  at  the  school,  the  yomig  duke  had  been  provided 
with  a  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend,  in  the  person  of  an 
accomplished  ex-officer  of  the  French  navy,  who  had  been 
obliged  to  quit  that  service,  under  the  Empire,  because  of 
his  attachment  to  the  exiled  monarchy.    I  knew  this  gen- 

184 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCICADE  SERVICE 

« 

tleman  very  well  at  Newport,  exchanging  with  him  occa- 
sional visits,  though  he  was  much  my  senior  in  years.  His 
name  was  Fauvel,  which  the  midshipmen,  or  other,  had 
promptly  Anglicized  into  Four  Bells — a  nautical  hour- 
stroke,  I  suppose  this  propensity  to  travesty  foreign  or 
difficult  names  is  not  merely  maritime;  but  naturally 
enough  my  reading  has  brought  me  more  in  contact  with 
it  in  connection  with  naval  matters.  Thus  the  Ville  de 
Milan,  captured  into  the  British  service,  became  to  their 
seamen  the  "Wheel  'em  along;"  and  the  Bellerophon, 
originally  their  own,  is  historically  reported  to  have  passed 
current  as  the  "Bully  Ruffian."  Captain  Fauvel  accom- 
panied us  in  the  Macedonian;  but  after  arriving  in  England, 
as  we  were  to  go  to  Cherbourg,  his  charge  and  he  left  us, 
neither  being  persona  grata  at  that  date  in  a  French  har- 
bor. When  we  reached  Cherbourg,  Fauvel's  wife  was 
there,  either  resident  or  for  the  moment,  and  at  our  cap- 
tain's invitation  visited  the  ship  to  see  where  her  husband 
had  been  living,  and  would  again  be  when  we  reached  a 
more  friendly  port.  As  contrary  luck  would  have  it,  while 
she  was  on  board,  the  French  admiral  and  the  general  com- 
manding the  troops  came  alongside  to  return  the  official 
call  paid  them.  The  awkwardness,  of  course,  was  merely 
that  her  presence  obtruded  the  fact,  otherwise  easily  and 
discreetly  ignored,  that  when  out  of  French  waters  we  were 
hospitably  entertaining  persons  politically  distasteful  to 
the  French  government,  the  courtesies  of  which  we  were 
now  accepting;  and  there  was  a  momentary  impulse  to 
keep  her  out  of  sight.  A  better  judgment  prevailed,  how- 
ever, and  a  very  courteous  exchange  of  French  politeness 
ensued  between  the  officials  and  the  lady,  to  whom  doubt- 
less no  political  significance  attached.  A  more  notable 
circumstance,  in  the  light  of  the  then  future,  was  that  dur- 
ing our  few  days  in  Cherbourg  arrived  the  news  of  the 
capture  of  the  city  of  Mexico  by  the  French  troops;  and 

185 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

before  our  departure  took  place  the  official  celebration, 
with  flags  and  salutes,  of  that  crowning  event  in  an  enter- 
prise which  in  the  end  proved  disastrous  to  its  originator, 
and  fatal  to  his  protege,  Maximilian. 

The  Macedonian,  for  a  sailing-vessel,  had  a  quite  rapid 
run  across  from  Newport  to  Plymouth,  eighteen  days  from 
anchor  to  anchor,  though  I  believe  one  of  our  frigates,  after 
the  war,  made  it  in  twelve.  This  was  the  only  occasion, 
during  my  fairly  numerous  crossings,  that  I  have  ever 
seen  icebergs  under  a  brilliant  sky.  Usually  the  scoundrels 
come  skulking  along  masked  by  a  fog,  as  though  ashamed 
of  themselves,  as  they  ought  to  be.  They  are  among  the 
most  obnoxious  of  people  who  do  not  know  their  place. 
This  time  we  passed  several,  quite  large,  having  a  light 
breeze  and  perfectly  clear  horizon.  After  that  it  again  set 
in  thick,  with  the  usual  anxiety  which  ice,  unseen  but  sure- 
ly near,  cannot  but  cause.  Finally  we  took  a  very  heavy 
gale  of  wind,  which  settled  to  southwest,  hauling  gradual- 
ly to  northwest  and  sending  us  rejoicing  on  our  way  a 
thousand  miles  in  four  days,  much  of  this  time  under  close- 
reefed  topsails. 

I  am  not  heedless  of  the  great  danger  of  merely  prosing 
along  in  the  telling  of  the  days  of  youth,  so  I  will  shut  off 
my  experience  of  the  Macedonian  with  an  incident  which 
amused  me  greatly  at  the  time,  and  still  seems  to  have  a 
moral  that  one  needs  not  to  point.  While  lying  at  Spit- 
head,  a  number  of  the  midshipmen  were  sent  ashore  to 
visit  the  dock  yard, —  professional  improvement.  When 
they  returned,  the  lieutenants  in  charge  were  full  of  the 
block-making  processes.  The  ingenuity  of  the  machinery, 
the  variety  and  beauty  of  the  blocks,  the  many  excellences, 
had  the  changes  rung  upon  them,  meal  after  meal,  till  I 
could  hear  the  whir  of  the  wheels  in  my  head  and  see  the 
chips  fly.  Meantime,  our  captain  went  to  London,  having 
completed  his  official  visiting,  and  an  English  captain  came 

186 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCIvADE  SERVICE 

on  board  to  return  a  call.  Declining  my  invitation  to  enter 
the  cabin,  he  walked  up  and  down  the  quarter-deck  with 
me,  discussing  many  things;  under  his  arm  his  sword. 
Suddenly  he  stopped  short,  and  pointing  with  it  to  a  big 
iron-strapped  leading-block,  he  said,  "  Now  that  is  what  I 
call  a  sensible  block;  I  wonder  why  it  is  we  cannot  get 
blocks  like  that  in  our  ships."  I  was  not  prepared  with  a 
reason  for  their  defects,  then  or  since;  but  my  unreadiness 
has  not  marred  my  enjoyment  of  these  divergent  points 
of  view.  Perhaps  the  captain  was  a  professional  mal- 
content; for,  looking  at  a  Parrott  rifled  hundred-pounder 
gun  which  we  carried  on  the  quarter-deck,  he  said,  inter- 
rogatively, "Not  breech -loading?"  "No,"  I  answered, 
"  breech-loading  is  not  in  favor  with  us  at  present."  "  And 
very  right  you  are,"  he  rejoined.  I  think  they  then  (1863) 
still  had  the  Armstrong  breech-loading  system.  This 
incident  may  deserve  a  place  in  the  pala3ontology  of  gun- 
making.  There  are  now,  I  presume,  no  muzzle-loaders  left; 
unless  in  museums,  as  specimens. 

Very  shortly  after  the  Macedonian's  return  home  I  was 
sent  to  New  Orleans,  for  a  ship  on  the  Texas  blockade; 
transportation  being  given  me  on  one  of  the  "beef-boats," 
as  the  supply-vessels  were  familiarly  known.  Among  fel- 
low-passengers was  one  of  my  class;  for  a  while,  indeed, 
my  room-mate  at  the  Academy.  When  we  reached  New 
Orleans  the  chief  of  staff  said  to  me,  "  There  is  a  vacancy 
on  board  the  Monongahela,"  a  ship  larger  and  in  everyway 
better  than  the  Seminole  to  which  I  was  ordered;  moreover, 
she  was  lying  off  Mobile,  a  sociable  blockade,  instead  of 
at  a  jumping-off  place,  the  end  of  nowhere,  Sabine  Pass, 
where  the  Seminole  was.  He  advised  me  to  apply  for  her, 
which  I  did;  but  Commodore  Bell,  acting  in  Farragut's 
absence  in  the  North,  declined.  I  must  go  to  the  ship  to 
which  the  Department  had  assigned  me,  and  for  which  it 
doubtless  had  its  reasons.     So  my  classmate  was  ordered 

187 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

to  her  instead,  and  on  board  her  was  killed  in  the  passage 
of  the  Mobile  forts  the  following  August.     I  can  scarcely 
claim  a  miraculous  escape,  as  it  does  not  appear  that  I 
should  have  got  in  the  way  of  the  ball  which  finished  him; 
but  for  him,  poor  fellow,  who  had  not  been  long  married, 
the  commodore's  refusal  to  me  was  a  sentence  of  death. 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  furbish  up  any  intellectual  enter- 
tainment for  readers  from  the  excessively  dry  bones  of  my 
subsequent  blockading,  especially  off  the  mouth  of  the 
Sabine.     Only  a  French  cook  could  produce  a  passable 
dish  out  of  such  woful  material;  and  even  he  would  require 
concomitant  ingredients,  in  remembered  incidents,  wherein, 
if  there  were  any,  my  memory  fails  me.     Day  after  day, 
day  after  day,  we  lay  inactive— roll,  roll;  not  wholly  in- 
effective, I  suppose,  for  our  presence  stopped  blockade- 
running;  but  even  in  this  respect  the  Texas  coast  had 
largely  lost  importance  since  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  and 
Port  Hudson,  the  previous  summer,  had  cut  off  the  trans- 
Mississippi  region  from  the  body  of  the  Confederacy.     We 
used  to  see  the  big,  light-draught  steamers  coming  up  the 
river,  or  crossing  the  lagoon-like  bay,  sometimes  crowded 
with  people;  and  the  possibihty  was  discussed  of   their 
carrying  troops,  and  of  their  coming  out  to  attack  us,  as 
not  long  before  had  been  successfully  done  against  our 
vessels  inside  Galveston  Bay.      In   a  norther,   possibly, 
such  a  thing  might  have  been  tried,  for  the  sea  was  then 
smooth;  but  in  the  ordinary  ground-swell  I  imagine  the 
soldiers  would  have  been  incapacitated  by  sea-sickness. 
The  chances  were  all  against  success,  and  no  attempt  was 
ever  made;  but  it  was  something  to  talk  about. 

The  ensuing  twelve  or  fifteen  months  to  the  close  of  the 
war  were  equally  uneventful.  Long  before  they  ended  I 
had  got  back  to  the  South  Atlantic  coast.  To  this  I  was 
indebted  for  the  opportunity  of  being  present  when  the 
United  States  flag  was  ceremoniously  hoisted  again  over 

188 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCia.DE   SERVICE 

what  then  remained  of  Fort  Siiniter,  by  General  Robert 
Anderson,  who,  as  Major  Anderson,  had  been  forced  to 
lower  it  just  four  years  before.  Henry  Ward  Bcecher  de- 
Uvered  the  address,  of  which  I  remember  Httlc,  except 
that,  citing  the  repeated  question  of  foreigners,  why  we 
should  wish  to  re-establish  our  authority  over  a  land 
where  the  one  desire  of  the  people  was  to  reject  it,  he  re- 
plied, "  We  so  wish,  because  it  is  ours."  The  sentiment 
was  obvious  enough,  one  would  think,  to  any  man  who 
had  a  country  to  love  and  objected  to  seeing  it  dismem- 
bered, but  to  many  of  our  European  critics  it  then  seemed 
monstrous  in  aai  American;  at  least  they  said  so.  The 
orator  on  such  an  occasion  has  only  to  swim  with  the  cur- 
rent. The  enthusiasm  is  already  there;  he  needs  not  to 
elicit  it.  Here  and  again  a  blast  of  eloquence  from  him 
may  start  the  fire  roaring,  but  the  flame  is  already  kin- 
dled. The  joy  of  harvest,  the  rejoicing  of  men  who  divide 
the  spoil,  the  boasting  of  them  who  can  now  put  off  their 
harness,  need  not  the  stimulation  of  words. 

The  exact  coincidence  of  raising  the  flag  over  Sumter 
on  the  anniversary  of  its  lowering  was  artificial,  but  the 
date  of  the  surrender  of  Charleston,  February  18th,  was 
just  opportune  to  complete  the  necessary  arrangements 
and  preparations  without  holding  back  the  ceremony,  on 
the  night  of  which — Good  Friday — within  twelve  hours, 
President  Lincoln  was  murdered.  Joy  and  grief  were  thus 
brought  into  immediate  and  startling  contrast.  A  per- 
fectly natural  and  quite  impressive  coincidence  came  under 
my  notice  in  close  connection  with  these  occurrences.  I 
was  at  this  time  on  the  staff  of  Admiral  Dahlgren,  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  South  Atlantic  Blockading  Squad- 
ron during  the  last  two  years  of  the  war,  and  accompanied 
him  when  he  entered  Charleston  Harbor,  which  he  had  so 
long  assailed  in  vain.  The  following  Sunday  I  attended 
service  at  one  of  the  Episcopal  churches.  The  appointed 
x3  189 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

first  lesson  for  the  day,  Quinquagesima,  was  from  the  first 
chapter  of  Lamentations,  beginning,  "How  cloth  the  city 
sit  sohtary,  that  was  full  of  people !  .  .  .    She  that  was  great 
among  the  nations,  and  princess  among  the  provinces,  how 
is  she  become  tributary!"     Considering  the  conspicuous, 
and  even  leading,  part  played  by  Charleston  in  the  South- 
ern movement,  "  the  cradle  of  secession,"  her  initiation  of 
hostilities,  her  long  successful  resistance,  and  her  recent 
subjugation,  the  words  and  their  sequence  were  strikingly 
and  painfully  applicable  to  her  present  condition;  for  the 
Confederate  troops  in  evacuating  had  started  a  large  de- 
struction of  property,  and  the  Union  forces  on  entering 
found  public  buildings,  stores,  warehouses,  private  dwell- 
ings, and  cotton,  on  fire — a  scene  of  distress  to  which  some  of 
them  also  further  contributed.^    I  myself  remember  streets 
littered  with  merchants'  correspondence,  a  mute  witness 
to  other  devastation.     My  recollection  is  that  the  officiat- 
ing clergyman  saw  and  dodged  the  too  evident  application, 
reading  some  other  chapter.     Many  still  living  may  recall 
how  apposite,  though  to  a  different  mood,  was  the  first  les- 
son of  the  Sunday — the  third  after  Easter — which  in  1861 
followed  the  surrender  of   Sumter  and    the  excited  week 
that  witnessed  "the  uprising  of  the  North," — Joel  iii.,  v.  9: 
"Proclaim. ye  this  among  the  Gentiles:  Prepare  war,  wake 
up  the  mighty  men,  let  all  men  of  war  draw  near;  let  them 
come  up.     Beat  your  ploughshares  into  swords,  and  your 
pruning-hooks  into  spears;  let  the  weak  say,  I  am  strong." 
I  was  not  in  the  country  myself  at  that  time,  and  my  atten- 
tion was  first  drawn  to  this  in  1865  by  a  clergyman,  who  told 
me  of  his  startled  astonishment  upon  opening  the  Book.    In 
the  then  public  temper  it  must  have  thrilled  every  nerve 
among  the  hearers,  already  strained  to  the  uttermost  by 
events  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  nation. 

'Rhodes's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  v.,  p.  99. 
190 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

Being  on  Dahlgron's  staff  gave  me  also  the  opportunity 
of  seeing,  gathered  together  in  social  assembly,  all  the 
general  officers  who  had  shared  in  the  March  to  the  Sea. 
This  was  at  a  reception  given  by  Sherman  in  Savannah, 
within  a  week  after  entering  that  city,  which  may  be  con- 
sidered the  particular  terminus  of  one  stage  in  his  prog- 
ress through  the  heart  of  the  Confederacy.  The  admiral 
had  gone  thither  in  a  small  steamer,  which  served  as  flag- 
ship, to  greet  the  triumphant  chief.  Few,  if  any,  of  the 
more  conspicuous  of  Sherman's  subordinates  were  absent 
from  the  rooms,  thronged  with  men  whose  names  were  then 
in  all  mouths,  and  who  in  honor  of  the  occasion  had  changed 
their  marching  clothes  for  full  uniform,  rarely  seen  in  cam- 
paign. From  the  heads  of  the  two  armies,  the  union  of 
which  under  him  constituted  his  force,  down  through  the 
brigade  commanders,  all  were  there  with  their  staffs;  and 
many  besides.  The  tone  of  this  gathering  was  more  subdued 
than  at  Fort  Smnter,  if  equally  exultant.  Success,  achieve- 
ment, the  clear  demonstration  of  victory,  such  as  the  oc- 
cupation of  Savannah  gave,  uplifts  men's  hearts  and  swells 
their  breasts;  but  these  men  had  worked  off  some  of  their 
heat  in  doing  things.  Besides,  there  yet  remained  for  them 
other  and  weighty  things  to  do.  It  could  be  felt  sym- 
pathetically that  with  them  the  pervading  sensation  was 
relaxation — repose.  They  had  reached  their  present  height 
by  prolonged  labor  and  endurance,  and  were  enjoying  rather 
the  momentary  release  from  strain  than  the  intoxication  of 
triumph. 

In  expectation  of  the  victorious  arrival  of  the  army  in 
Savannah,  I  had  been  charged  with  two  messages,  in  pa- 
thetic contrast  with  each  other.  The  first  was  from  my 
father  to  Sherman  himself,  who' twenty  years  before  had 
been  under  his  teaching  as  a  cadet  at  the  Mifitary  Academy. 
I  cannot  now  recall  whether  I  bore  with  me  a  letter  of  con- 
gratulation which  my  father  wrote  him,  and  to  which  he 

191 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

pleasantly  replied  that  he  had  from  it  as  much  satisfaction 
as  when  in  far-away  days  he  had  been  dismissed  from  the 
blackboard  with  the  commendation,  "  Very  well  done,  Mr, 
Sherman."  My  reception  by  him,  however,  was  in  the 
exact  spirit  of  this  remark,  and  characteristic  of  the  man. 
When  I  mentioned  my  name  he  broke  into  a  smile — all 
over,  as  they  say — shook  my  hand  forcibly,  and  exclaimed, 
"What,  the  son  of  old  Dennis?"  reverting  instinctively  to 
the  familiar  epithet  of  school-days. 

My  other  errand  was  to  a  former  school-mate  of  my 
mother's,  resident  in  Savannah,  with  whom  she  had  long 
maintained  affectionate  relations,  which  the  war  necessarily 
suspended.  The  next  day  I  sought  her  out.  When  I 
found  the  house,  she  was  at  the  door,  in  conversation  with 
some  of  the  subordinate  officials  of  the  invading  army, 
probably  with  reference  to  the  necessity  of  yielding  rooms 
for  quarters.  The  men  were  perfectly  respectful,  but  the 
situation  was  perturbing  to  a  middle-aged  lady  brought 
for  the  first  time  into  contact  with  the  rough  customs  of 
war,  and  she  was  very  pale,  worried  in  look,  and  harassed 
in  speech;  evidently  quite  doubtful  as  to  what  latent  pos- 
sibilities of  harm  such  a  visit  might  portend — whether 
ultimately  she  might  not  find  herself  houseless.  I  made 
myself  known,  but  she  was  not  responsive;  courteous,  for 
with  her  breeding  she  could  not  be  otherwise,  but  too  pre- 
occupied with  the  harsh  present  to  respond  to  the  gentler 
feelings  of  the  past.  It  was  touchingly  apparent  that  she 
was  trying  hard  to  keep  a  stiff  upper  lip,  and  her  attempted 
frame  of  mind  finally  betrayed  itself  in  the  words,  uttered 
tremulously,  with  excitement  or  mortification,  "  I  don't  ad- 
mit yet  that  you  have  beaten  us."  I  could  scarcely  con- 
test the  point,  but  it  was  very  sad.  At  the  moment  I  could 
almost  have  wished  that  we  had  not. 

At  the  mouths  of  the  Georgia  rivers  Sherman's  soldiers 
struck  tide-water,  many  of  them  for    the  first    time  in 

192 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND   BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

their  lives;  and  a  story  was  current  that  two,  foraging, 
lay  clown  to  sleep  by  the  edge  of  a  stream,  and  were  as- 
tounded by  waking  to  find  themselves  in  the  water.  To 
consider  the  tide,  however,  is  an  acquired  habit.  Sher- 
man's approach  to  the  Atlantic  had  given  rise  to  a  certain 
amount  of  naval  and  military  activity  on  the  part  of  the 
forces  already  stationed  there.  In  connection  with  this 
I  had  been  sent  on  some  staff  errand  tliat  caused  me  to 
spend  a  couple  of  days  on  board  the  Pawnee,  which  had 
just  been  carrying  about  army  officers  for  reconnoissances. 
"  By  George!"  said  her  captain,  laughing  and  bringing  down 
his  fist  on  the  table,  "you  can't  make  those  fellows  under- 
stand that  a  ship  has  to  look  out  for  the  tide.  I  would  say 
to  them,  '  See  here,  the  tide  is  running  out,  and  if  we  don't 
move  very  soon  we  shall  be  left  aground,  fast  till  next  high- 
water.'  'Oh  yes,  yes,'  they  would  reply,  'all  right';  and 
then  they  would  forget  all  about  it,  and  go  on  as  if  they 
had  unhmited  time."  But  of  course  the  captain  did  not 
forget. 

The  fall  of  Richmond  and  Charleston,  and  the  surrender 
of  Lee's  army,  assuring  the  early  termination  of  hostihties 
on  any  grand  scale,  the  admiral  had  kindly  transferred  me 
from  his  staff  back  to  the  ship  on  board  which  I  had  joined 
the  squadron  a  year  before,  and  which  was  soon  to  return 
North.  War  service,  nominal  at  least,  was  not,  however, 
quite  over;  for  after  some  brief  repairs  we  were  sent  down 
to  Haiti  to  take  up  the  duty  of  convoying  the  Pacific  Mail 
steamers  from  the  Windward  Passage  (between  Cuba  and 
Haiti)  some  distance  towards  Panama.  It  is  perhaps 
worth  recording  that  such  an  employment  incident  to  the 
war  was  maintained  for  quite  a  while,  consequent  upon  the 
capture  of  the  Ariel,  before  mentioned.  Upon  my  personal 
fortmies  it  had  the  effect  of  producing  a  severe  tropical 
fever,  engendered  probably  during  the  years  of  Southern 
service,  and  brought  to  a  head  by  the  conditions  of  Haiti. 

193 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEMI 

Whatever  its  cause,  this  led  to  my  being  invalided  for  six 
months,  at  the  expiration  of  which,  to  my  grievous  disap- 
pointment, I  was  again  assigned  to  duty  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  The  War  of  Secession  then — December,  1865 — 
was  entirely  over;  but  the  Mexican  expedition  of  Napoleon 
III.,  the  culminating  incident  of  which,  the  capture  of 
Mexico,  we  had  seen  celebrated  at  Cherbourg  in  1863,  was 
still  lingering.  Begun  in  our  despite,  when  our  hands  were 
tied  by  intestine  troubles,  it  now  engaged  our  unfriendly 
interest;  and  part  of  the  attention  paid  to  it  was  the  main- 
tenance of  a  particular  squadron  in  those  waters — observ- 
ant, if  quiescent.  Here  again  sickness  pursued,  not  me, 
but  my  ship;  from  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande  we  re- 
turned to  Pensacola,  with  near  a  hundred  men,  half  the 
ship's  company,  down  with  fever.  It  was  not  malignant — 
we  had  but  three  deaths — but  one  of  those  was  our  only 
doctor,  and  we  were  sent  to  the  far  North,  and  so  out  of 
commission,  in  September,  1866.  The  particular  squadron 
was  continued  till  the  following  spring,  when,  under  diplo- 
matic pressure,  the  French  expedition  was  withdrawn ;  but 
by  then  I  was  again  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  on  my  way  to  China. 
The  headquarters  of  this  temporary  squadron  was  at 
Pensacola;  but  until  her  imlucky  visit  to  the  Rio  Grande 
my  sliip,  the  Muscoota,  one  of  the  iron  double-ender  paddle 
steamers  which  the  war  had  evolved  among  other  experi- 
ments, lay  for  some  months  at  Key  West,  then,  as  always 
from  its  position,  a  naval  station  of  importance.  I  suppose 
most  people  know  that  this  word  "Key,"  meaningless  in 
its  appHcation  to  the  low  islands  which  it  designates,  is  the 
anghcized  form  of  the  Spanish  "  Cayo."  Among  the  valued 
acquaintances  of  my  hfe  I  here  met  a  clergyman,  whose 
death  at  the  age  of  eighty  I  see  as  these  words  pass  from 
my  pen.  As  chaplain  to  the  garrison,  he  had  won  the  es- 
teem and  praise  of  many,  including  General  Sherman,  for 
his  devotion  during  an  epidemic  of  yellow-fever,  and  he 

194 


INCIDENTS  OF  WAR  AND  BLOCKADE  SERVICE 

was  now  rector  of  the  only  Episcopal  parish.  He  told  me 
an  anecdote  of  one  of  his  flock.  Key  West,  from  its  situa- 
tion, had  many  of  the  characteristics  of  an  outpost,  a 
frontier  town,  a  mingling  of  peoples,  with  consequent 
rough  habits,  hard  drinking,  and  general  dissipation.  The 
man  in  question,  a  good  fellow  in  his  way,  professed  to  be 
a  very  strong  churchman,  and  constantly  so  avowed  him- 
self; but  the  bottle  was  too  much  for  liim.  The  rector  re- 
monstrated.    " ,  how  can  you  go  round  boasting 

yourself  a  churchman  when  your  life  is  so  scandalous? 
You  are  doing  the  Church  harm,  not  good,  by  such  talk." 
"Yes,  Mr.  Herrick,"  he  replied,  "I  know  it's  too  bad;  it  is 
a  shame;  but,  you  see,  all  the  same,  I  am  a  good  church- 
man. I  fight  for  the  Church.  If  I  hear  a  man  say  any- 
thing against  her,  I  knock  him  down."  It  was  at  Mr. 
Herrick's  table  I  heard  criticised  the  local  inadequacy  of 
the  prayer-book  petition  for  rain.  "What  we  want,"  said 
the  speaker,  "is  not  'moderate  rain  and  showers,  that  we 
may  receive  the  fruits  of  the  earth, '  but  a  hard  down-pour 
to  fill  our  tanks."  Key  West  and  its  neighbors  then  de- 
pended chiefly,  if  not  solely,  upon  this  resource  for  drink- 
ing-water. 


IX 

A   ROUNDABOUT   ROAD   TO   CHINA 
1867 

With  the  termination  of  the  War  of  Secession,  which 
had  concentrated  the  entire  effort  of  the  navy  upon  our 
own  coasts  and  inland  waters,  the  poHcy  of  the  govern- 
ment reverted,  irreflectively  perhaps,  to  the  identical  sys- 
tem of  distribution  in  squadrons  that  had  existed  before. 
The  prolonged  tension  of  mind  and  effort  during  four  years 
of  overwrought  activity  was  followed  by  a  period  of  re- 
action, to  which,  as  far  as  the  administration  of  the  navy 
was  concerned,  the  term  collapse  would  scarcely  be  mis- 
applied. Of  course,  for  a  few  years  the  evil  effects  of  this 
would  not  be  observable  in  the  military  resources  of  the 
government.  Only  the  ravages  of  time  could  deprive  us 
of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  veterans  just  released 
from  the  active  practice  of  war;  and  the  navy  found  itself 
in  possession  of  a  respectable  fleet,  which,  though  some- 
what over-specialized  in  order  to  meet  the  peculiar  condi- 
tions of  the  hostilities,  was  still  fairly  modern.  There  was 
a  body  of  officers  fully  competent  in  numbers  and  abiHty, 
and  comparatively  young.  In  the  first  ship  on  board 
which  I  made  a  long  cruise,  beginning  in  1867,  of  ten  in  the 
ward-room,  three  only,  the  surgeon,  paymaster,  and  chief 
engineer,  were  over  thirty ;  and  they  barely.  I  myself,  next 
to  the  captain,  was  twenty-six;  and  there  was  not  a  mar- 
ried man  among  us.  The  seamen,  though  professionally 
more  liable  to  dispersion  than  the  land  forces,  were  not  yet 

196 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

scattered.  Thus  provided  against  immediate  alarms,  and 
with  the  laurels  of  the  War  of  Secession  still  fresh,  the 
country  in  military  matters  lay  down  and  went  to  sleep, 
like  the  hare  in  the  fable,  regardless  of  the  incessant  prog- 
ress on  every  side,  which,  indeed,  was  scarcely  that  of  the 
tortoise.  Our  ships  underwent  no  change  in  character  or 
armament. 

Twenty  years  later,  in  the  Pacific,  I  commanded  one  of 
these  old  war-horses,  not  yet  turned,out  to  grass  or  slaugh- 
ter, ship-rigged  to  royals,  and  slow-steamed.  One  day  the 
French  admiral  came  on  board  to  return  my  official  visit. 
As  he  left,  he  paused  for  a  moment  abreast  one  of  our  big, 
and  very  old,  pivot  guns.  "Ah!  Capitaine,"  he  said,  "les 
vieux  canons!"  Two  or  three  days  later  came  his  chief 
of  staff  on  some  errand  or  other.  That  discharged,  when  I 
was  accompanying  him  to  his  boat  at  the  gangway,  he 
stopped  in  the  same  spot  as  the  admiral.  His  gaze  was 
meditative,  reminiscent,  perhaps  even  sentimental.  "Ou 
sont  les  neiges  d'antan?"  Whatever  their  present  merits 
as  fighting-machines,  he  saw  before  him  an  historical  me- 
mento, sweeping  gently,  doubtless,  the  chords  of  youthful 
memories,  "Oui,  oui!"  he  said  at  last;  "Fancien  systeme. 
Nous  I'avons  eu."  It  was  a  summary  of  American  naval 
policy  during  the  twenty  years  following  1S65;  we  "had" 
things  which  other  nations  "had  had,"  until  Secretary 
Chandler  started  the  movement  of  renovation  by  the  first 
of  all  necessary  steps,  the  official  exposure  of  the  sham  to 
which  we  had  allowed  ourselves  to  be  committed.  There 
is  an  expression,  "quaker  guns,"  applied  to  blackened  cyl- 
inders of  wood,  intended  to  simulate  cannon,  and  mount- 
ed upon  ramparts  or  a  ship's  broadside  to  impose  upon  an 
enemy  as  to  the  force  before  him.  We  made  four  such  for 
the  Macedonian,  to  deceive  any  merchant-men  we  spoke  as 
to  our  battery,  in  case  she  should  report  us  to  an  Alabama; 
and,  being  carried  near  the  bows,  much  trouble  they  gave 

197 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

us,  being  usually  knocked  overboard  when  we  tacked  ship, 
or  set  a  lower  studding-sail.  Well,  by  1885  the  United 
States  had  a  "quaker"  navy;  the  result  being  that,  not 
the  enemy,  but  our  own  people  were  deceived.  Like  poor 
Steece's  passengers  on  board  the  Ariel,  we  were  blissfully 
sheltering  behind  pine  boards. 

In  1867,  however,  these  old  ships  and  ancient  systems 
were  but  just  passing  their  meridian,  and  for  a  brief  time 
might  continue  to  live  on  their  reputation.  They  were 
beautiful  vessels  in  outline,  and  repaid  in  appearance  all 
the  care  which  the  seamen  natm*ally  lavishes  on  his  home. 
One  could  well  feel  proud  of  them;  the  more  so  that  they 
had  close  behind  them  a  good  fighting  record.  It  was  to 
one  such,  the  Iroquois,  which  had  followed  Farragut  from 
New  Orleans  to  Vicksburg,  that  I  reported  on  the  second 
day  of  that  then  new  year.  She  was  destined  to  China  and 
Japan,  the  dream  of  years  to  me;  but,  better  still,  there  was 
chalked  out  for  her  an  extensive  trip,  "  from  Dan  to  Beer- 
sheba,"  as  a  British  officer  enviously  commented  in  my  hear- 
ing. We  were  to  go  by  the  West  Indies  to  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
thence  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  Madagascar,  to  Aden 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Red  Sea,  to  Muscat  at  the  entrance  of 
the  Persian  Gulf,  and  so  by  India  and  Siam  to  our  first 
port  in  Chinese  waters.  Hong  Kong.  The  time,  too,  was 
apposite,  for  Japan  had  not  yet  entered  upon  the  path  of 
modernization  which  she  has  since  pursued  with  such  rev- 
olutionary progress.  Some  eight  or  ten  years  ago  there 
lunched  with  me  a  young  Japanese  naval  officer,  who  I 
understand  has  occupied  a  position  of  distinguished  respon- 
sibility during  the  recent  war  with  Russia.  I  chanced  to 
ask  liim  if  he  had  ever  seen  a  two-sworded  man.  He  re- 
plied, Never.  He  belonged  to  the  samurai  class,  who  once 
wore  them;  but  in  actual  life  they  have  disappeared.  When 
the  Iroquois  reached  Japan,  and  throughout  her  stay,  two- 
sworded  men  were  as  thick  almost  as  blackberries.    To 

198 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

European  prepossessions  it  was  illuminating  to  see  half  a 
dozen  riding  down  a  street,  hatless,  crown  of  the  head 
shaved,  with  a  short  pigtail  at  the  back  tied  tight  near  the 
skull  and  then  brought  stiffly  forward  close  to  the  scalp; 
their  figiu-es  gowned,  the  handles  of  the  two  swords  pro- 
jecting closely  together  from  the  left  side  of  their  garments, 
and  the  feet  resting  in  stirrups  of  shpper  form,  which  my 
memory  says  were  of  straw-work;  but  of  that  I  am  less  sure. 
This  equipment  was  completed  by  a  painted  fan  stuck  in 
the  belt,  and  at  times  an  opened  paper  umbrella.  I  have 
been  passenger  in  the  same  boat  with  some  of  these  war- 
riors, accoutred  as  above,  and  using  their  fans  as  required, 
while  engaged  in  animated  conversation  with  the  courtesy 
and  smihng  affability  characteristic  of  all  classes  in  Japan. 
Such,  in  outward  seeming,  then  was  the  as  yet  raw  material, 
out  of  which  have  been  evolved  the  heroic  soldiery  who 
have  recently  astonished  the  world  by  the  practical  devel- 
opment they  have  given  to  modern  military  ideas;  then  as 
unlike  the  troops  which  now  are,  except  in  courage,  as  the 
ancient  Japanese  war-junk  is  to  the  present  battle-ship.  I 
was  in  Japan  at  the  arrival  of  their  first  iron-clad,  purchased 
in  the  United  States,  and  doubtless  long  since  consigned  to 
the  scrap-heap;  but  of  her  hereafter. 

A  glance  over  the  list  of  vessels  in  the  Navy  Register  of 
1907  shows  me  that  the  once  abundant  Indian  names  have 
disappeared,  except  where  associated  with  some  State  or 
city;  or,  worse,  have  been  degraded  to  tugboats,  a  treat- 
ment which  the  Indian,  with  all  his  faults,  scarcely  de- 
serves. They  no  longer  connote  ships  of  war.  Iroquois, 
Seminole,  Mohican,  Wyoming,  Oneida,  Pawnee,  and  some 
dozens  more,  are  gone  with  the  ships,  and  Uke  the  tribes, 
which  bore  them.  Yet  what  more  appropriate  to  a  vessel 
meant  for  a  scout  than  the  tribal  epithet  of  a  North  Ameri- 
can Indian!  Dacotah  alone  survives;  while  for  it  the  march 
of  progress  in  spelling  has  changed  the  c  to  k,  and  phoneti- 

199 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

cally  dropped  the  silent,  and  therefore  supposedly  useless, 
h.  As  if  silence  had  no  merits!  is  the  interjection,  ah, 
henceforth  to  be  spelled  a?  Since  they  with  their  names 
have  passed  into  the  world  of  ghosts — can  there  be  for  them 
a  sea  in  the  happy  hunting-grounds? — it  may  be  historically 
expedient  to  tell  what  manner  of  craft  they  were.  If  only 
some  contemporary  had  done  the  same  by  the  trireme, 
what  time  and  disputation  might  have  been  saved! 

The  Iroquois  and  her  sisters,  built  in  the  fifties,  were 
vessels  of  the  kind  to  which  I  have  applied  the  term  cor- 
vette, then  very  common  in  all  navies;  cruisers  only;  scouts, 
or  commerce-destroyers.  Not  of  the  Hne  of  battle,  although 
good  fighting-ships.  Ours  were  of  a  thousand  tons,  as  size 
was  then  stated,  or  about  seven  hundred  tons  "displace- 
ment," as  the  more  modern  expression  runs;  displacement 
being  the  weight  of  the  water  displaced  by  the  hull  which 
rests  in  and  upon  it.  Thus  measured,  they  were  from  one- 
third  to  one-fourth  the  dimensions  of  the  vessels  called 
third-class  cruisers,  which  now  correspond  to  them;  but  their 
serviceableness  in  their  time  was  sufficiently  attested  by 
the  Confederate  Alabama,  substantially  of  this  general  type, 
as  was  her  conqueror,  the  Kearsarge.  For  external  appear- 
ance, they  were  something  over  two  hundred  feet  long, 
with  from  one-fifth  to  one-sixth  that  width,  and  sat  low 
in  the  water.  Low  and  long  are  nautical  features,  sugges- 
tive of  grace  and  speed,  which  have  always  obtained  recog- 
nition for  beauty;  and  the  rail  of  these  vessels  ran  un- 
broken, but  with  a  fine  sweep,  from  bow  to  stern.  Along 
the  water-hne,  and  extending  a  few  inches  above  it,  shone 
the  burnished  copper,  nearly  parallel  to  the  rail,  between 
which  and  it  glistened  the  saucy  black  hull. 

Steam  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  asserting  its  undivided 
sway;  but  the  Iroquois  and  her  mates  marked  a  stage  in 
the  progress,  for  they  carried  sails  really  as  auxiliary,  and 
were  intended  primarily  to  be  fast  steamers,  as  speed  was 

200 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

reckoned  in  their  time.  The  larger  vessels  of  the  service 
were  acceptedly  slow  under  steam.  They  had  it  chiefly  to 
fight  with,  and  to  help  them  across  the  places  where  wind 
failed  or  weakened.  These  corvettes  carried  sails  with  a 
view  to  saving  coal,  by  utilizing  the  well-defined  wind  zones 
of  the  ocean  when  fair  for  their  course.  Though  the  prac- 
tical result  for  both  was  much  the  same,  the  underlying 
idea  was  different.  In  the  one,  sail  held  the  first  place ;  in 
the  other,  steam;  and  it  is  the  .idea  which  really  denotes 
and  maintains  intellectual  movement  and  material  progress. 
This  was  represented  accordingly  in  the  rig  adopted.  Like 
a  ship,  they  had  three  masts,  yes;  but  only  the  two  for- 
ward were  square-rigged,  and  on  each  of  them  but  three 
sails.  The  lofty  royals  were  discarded.  The  general  result 
was  to  emphasize  the  design  of  speed  under  steam,  and  the 
use  of  sails  with  a  fresh,  fan-  wind  only;  a  distinct,  if  partial, 
abandonment  of  the  ''auxiliary"  steam  reliance  which  so 
far  had  governed  naval  development.  It  may  be  added 
that  the  shorter  and  lighter  masts,  by  a  common  optical 
effect,  increased  the  impression  of  the  vessel's  length  and 
swiftness,  as  was  the  case  with  the  old-time  sailing-frigate 
when  her  lofty  topgallant-masts  were  down  on  deck. 

Under  sail  alone  the  Iroquois  could  never  accomplish 
anything,  except  with  a  fair  wind.  We  played  with  her  at 
times,  on  the  wind  and  tacking,  but  she  simply  slid  off  to 
leeward — never  fetched  near  where  she  looked.  Consonant 
with  the  expedient  of  using  sails  where  the  wind  served, 
the  screw  could  be  disconnected  from  its  shaft  and  hoist- 
ed; held  in  position,  clear  of  the  water,  by  iron  pawls. 
In  this  way  the  hinderance  of  its  submerged  drag  upon  the 
speed  of  the  ship  was  obviated.  We  did  this  on  occasions, 
when  we  could  reckon  on  a  long  period  of  favorable  breezes ; 
but  it  was  a  troublesome  and  somewhat  anxious  operation. 
The  chance  of  a  slip  was  not  great,  but  the  possibility  was 
unpleasant  to  contemplate.     Wlien  I  add  that  for  arma- 

201 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

ment  we  carried  one  100-pomider  rifled  gun  on  a  pivot, 
and  four  9-inch  smooth-bore  shell  guns — these  being  the 
naval  piece  which  for  the  most  part  fought  the  War  of  Se- 
cession, then  just  closed — I  shall  have  given  the  principal 
distinguishing  features  of  a  class  of  vessel  which  did  good 
service  in  its  day,  and  is  now  as  much  of  the  past  as  is  the 
Spanish  Armada.    Yet  it  is  only  forty  years  since. 

After  being  frozen  up  and  snowed  under,  during  a  very 
bitter  and  boisterous  January,  we  at  last  got  to  sea,  and 
soon  ran  into  warmer  weather.  Our  first  stop  was  at  the 
French  West  India  island  Guadeloupe,  and  there  I  had 
set  for  me  amusingly  that  key-note  of  travelling  experience 
which  most  have  encountered.  I  was  dining  at  a  cafe,  and 
after  dinner  got  into  conversation  with  an  officer  of  the 
garrison.  I  asked  him  some  question  about  the  wet 
weather  then  reigning.  "C'est  exceptionnel,"  he  replied; 
and  exceptional  we  found  it  "from  Dan  to  Beersheba." 
At  our  next  port,  Ciara,  there  was  drought  when  every  resi- 
dent said  it  should  have  rained  constantly — a  variation  a 
stranger  could  endure ;  while  at  Rio  it  was  otherwise  peciiliar 
— "  the  warmest  April  in  years."  The  currents  all  ran  con- 
trary to  the  books,  and  the  winds  which  should  have  been 
north  hung  obstinately  at  south.  Whether  for  natural 
productions,  or  weather,  or  society,  we  were  commonly 
three  months  too  late  or  two  months  too  soon;  or,  as  one 
of  "ours"  put  it,  we  should  have  come  in  the  other  mon- 
soon. Nevertheless,  it  was  impossible  for  youth  and  high 
spirits  to  follow  our  schedule  and  not  find  it  spiced  to  the 
full  with  the  enjoyment  of  novelty;  if  not  in  season,  at 
least  well  seasoned. 

However,  every  one  travels  nowadays,  and  it  is  time 
worse  than  wasted  to  retell  what  many  have  seen.  But 
do  many  of  our  people  yet  visit  our  intended  second  port, 
that  most  beautiful  bay  of  Rio  de  Janeiro?  I  fancy  not. 
It  is  far  out  of  the  ordinary  line,  and  the  business  im- 

202 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

migration  to  South  America  is  much  more  from  Europe 
than  from  our  own  continent;  but,  having  since  visited 
many  harbors,  in  many  lands,  I  inchne  to  agree  with  my 
old  captain  of  the  Congress,  there  is  none  that  equals  Rio, 
viewed  from  the  anchorage.  Like  Japan,  I  was  happy 
enough  to  see  Rio  before  it  had  been  much  improved,  while 
the  sequestered,  primitive,  tropical  aspect  still  clung  to  it. 
I  suppose  the  red-tiled  roofs  still  rise  as  before  from  among 
the  abundant  foliage  and  the  orange-trees,  in  the  suburb 
of  Bota  Fogo;  that  the  same  deliciously  suggestive  smell 
of  the  sugar  and  rum  hogsheads  hangs  about  the  streets; 
that  the  long,  narrow  Rua  do  Ouvidor  is  still  brilliant  with 
its  multicolored  feather  flowers;  and  that  at  night  the  in- 
numerable lights  dazzle  irregularly  upward,  like  the  fire- 
flies which  also  there  abound,  over  the  hill-sides  and  prom- 
ontories that  so  charmingly  break  the  shore  line.  But 
already  in  1867  the  strides  since  1860  were  strikingly  visible. 
In  the  earlier  year  I  used  frequently  to  visit  a  friend  living 
at  Nichtherohy,  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the  bay.  The 
ferriage  then  was  by  trig,  long,  sharp-bowed,  black  pad- 
dle steamers,  with  raldng  funnels.  They  were  tremen- 
dously fussy,  important,  puffing  little  chaps,  with  that  con- 
sequential air  which  so  frequently  accompanies  moderate 
performance.  The  making  a  landing  was  a  comphcated 
and  tedious  job,  characterized  by  the  same  amount  of  need- 
less action  and  of  shortcoming  in  accomplishment.  We 
would  back  and  stop  about  twenty  feet  away  from  the 
end  of  a  long,  projecting  pier.  Then  ropes  would  be  got 
ashore  from  each  extremity  of  the  vessel ;  which  done,  she 
w^ould  back  again,  and  the  bow  line  would  be  shortened  in. 
Then  she  would  go  ahead,  and  the  like  would  be  done  by 
the  stern  Une.  This  would  fetch  her,  say,  ten  feet  away, 
when  the  same  processes  must  be  repeated.  I  never  timed, 
for  why  should  one  be  in  a  hurry  in  the  tropics,  where  no 
one  else  is?  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  sometimes  ten  min- 

203 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

utes  were  thus  consumed.  In  1867  these  had  disappeared, 
and  had  been  replaced  by  Yankee  double-ended  boats, 
which  ran  into  slips  such  as  we  have.  Much  more  expedi- 
tious and  sensible,  but  familiar  and  ugly  to  a  degree,  and 
not  in  the  least  entertaining;  nor,  I  may  add,  congruous. 
They  put  you  at  once  on  the  same  absurd  "jump"  that 
we  North  Americans  practise;  whereas  in  the  others  we  plac- 
idly puffed  our  cigars  in  an  atmosphere  of  serenity.  Time 
and  tide  may  be  so  ridiculous  as  not  to  wait;  we  knew  that 
waiting  was  enjoyment.  The  boat  had  time  to  burn,  and 
so  had  we.  At  the  later  date,  street-cars  also  had  been 
introduced,  and  we  were  told  were  doing  much  to  democ- 
ratize the  people.  The  man  whose  ability  to  pay  for  a  cab 
had  once  severed  him  from  the  herd  now  went  along  with 
it,  and  saved  his  coppers.  The  black  coats  and  tall  black 
silk  hats,  with  white  trousers  and  waistcoats,  which  always 
struck  me  as  such  an  odd  blend,  were  still  in  evidence. 

The  Iroquois  did  not  succeed  in  making  Rio  without  a  stop. 
The  northeast  trades  hung  well  to  the  eastward  after  we 
left  Guadeloupe,  and  blew  hard  with  a  big  sea;  for  it  was 
the  northern  winter.  Running  across  them,  as  we  were, 
the  ship  was  held  close  to  the  wind  under  fore  and  aft  can- 
vas. For  a  small  vessel  nothing  is  more  xmcomfortable. 
Rolling  and  butting  at  waves  which  struck  the  bow  at  an 
angle  of  forty-five  degrees  made  walking,  not  impossible,  in- 
deed, to  practised  sea  legs,  but  still  a  constant  succession  of 
gymnastic  balancings  that  took  from  it  all  pleasure.  For 
exercise  it  was  not  needed.  You  had  but  to  sit  at  your 
desk  and  write,  with  one  leg  stretched  out  to  keep  your 
position.  The  varied  movements  of  the  muscles  of  that 
leg,  together  with  those  of  the  rest  of  the  body,  in  the  con- 
tinued effort  "to  correct  the  horizontal  deviation,"  as 
Boatswain  Chucks  phrased  it,  sent  you  to  bed  wearily  con- 
scious that  you  had  had  constitutional  enough.  The  large 
consumption  of  coal  in  proportion  to  the  ground  covered 

204 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

made  a  renewal  necessary,  and  we  went  into  Ciara,  an  open 
roadstead  sheltered  only  by  submerged  coral  reefs,  on  the 
northeast  coast  of  Brazil.  Here  the  incessant  long  trade 
swell  sets  in  upon  a  beach  only  partly  protected ;  and  boat- 
ing is  chiefly  by  catamarans,  or  jangadas,  as  the  Portu- 
guese word  is, — three  or  four  long  trunks  of  trees,  joined 
together  side  by  side,  without  keel,  but  with  mast.  These 
are  often  to  be  seen  far  outside,  and  ride  safely  over  the 
heavy  breakers. 

From  Rio  to  Capetown,  being  in  the  month  of  May,  cor- 
responding to  our  northern  November,  we  had  a  South 
Atlantic  passage  which  in  boisterousness  might  hold  its 
own  with  that  between  the  United  States  and  Europe,  now 
familiar  to  so  many.  When  clear  of  the  tropics,  one 
strikes  in  both  hemispheres  the  westerly  gales  which  are, 
so  to  say,  the  counter-currents  of  the  atmosphere  respond- 
ing to  the  trade-winds  of  the  equatorial  belt — almost  as 
prevalent  in  direction,  though  much  more  variable  in 
force.  The  early  Spanish  navigators  characterized  them 
as  "vientos  bravos,"  an  epithet  too  literally  and  flatter- 
ingly rendered  into  English  by  our  seamen  as  "the  brave 
west  winds;"  the  Spanish  "bravo"  meaning  rude.  For 
a  vessel  using  sail,  however,  "brave"  may  pass;  for,  if  they 
hustled  her  somewhat  miceremoniously,  they  at  least  did 
speed  her  on  her  way.  On  two  successive  Thursdays  their 
prevalence  was  interrupted  by  a  tempest,  which  in  each 
case  surpassed  for  suddenness,  violence,  and  shortness  any- 
thing that  I  remember;  for  I  have  never  met  a  tropical 
hurricane,  nor  the  full  power  of  a  China  typhoon.  On 
the  first  occasion  the  sun  came  up  yellow  and  wet,  with 
a  sulky  expression  like  that  of  a  child  bathed  against  its 
will;  but,  as  the  wind  was  moderate,  sail  was  made  soon 
after  daylight.  Immediately  it  began  to  freshen,  and  so 
rapidly  that  we  could  scarce  get  the  canvas  in  fast  enough. 
By  ten  it  was  blowing  furiously.  To  be  heard  by  a  person 
^4  205 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

standing  at  your  elbow,  you  had  to  shout  at  the  top  of 
your  voice.  The  wind  shifted  rapidly,  a  cyclone  in  minia- 
ture as  to  dimensions,  though  not  as  to  strength;  but  the 
Iroquois  had  been  hove-to  on  the  right  tack  according  to 
the  law  of  storms.  That  is,  the  wind  hauled  aft;  and  as 
she  followed,  close  to  it,  she  headed  to  the  sea  instead  of 
falHng  into  the  trough.  When  square  sails  are  set,  this 
gradual  movement  in  the  same  direction  is  still  more  im- 
portant; for,  should  the  wind  fly  suddenly  ahead,  the  sails 
may  be  taken  aback,  a  very  awkward  situation  in  heavy 
weather.  By  five  o'clock  this  gradual  shifting  had  passed 
from  east,  by  north,  to  west,  where  the  gale  died  out;  hav- 
ing lasted  only  about  eight  hours,  yet  with  such  vehemence 
that  it  had  kicked  up  a  huge  sea.  By  10  p.m.  the  stars 
were  shining  serenely,  a  gentle  breeze  barely  steadying  the 
ship,  under  increased  canvas,  in  the  huge  billows  which 
for  a  few  hours  continued  to  testify  that  things  had  been 
nasty.  A  spoiled  child  that  has  carried  a  point  by  squall- 
ing could  scarcely  present  a  more  beaming  expression  than 
did  the  heavens;  but  our  wet  decks  and  clothes  assured 
us  that  our  discomfort  had  been  real  and  was  not  yet 
over. 

Throughout  the  ordeal  the  little  Iroquois — for  small  she 
was  by  modern  standards — though  at  a  stand-still,  lay 
otherwise  as  unconcerned  as  a  duck  in  a  mill-pond;  her 
screw  turning  slowly,  a  triangular  rag  of  storm-sail  showing 
to  steady  her,  rolling  deeply  but  easily,  and  bowing  the 
waves  with  gentle  movement  up  or  down,  an  occasional 
tremor  alone  betraying  the  shock  when  an  unusually  heavy 
comber  hit  her  in  the  eyes.  Then  one  saw  admiringly  that 
the  simile  "  hke  a  sea-fowl"  was  no  metaphor,  but  exact. 
None  were  better  quahfied  to  pronounce  than  we,  for  the 
South  Atlantic  abounds  in  aquatic  birds.  We  were  fol- 
lowed continuously  by  clouds  of  them,  low  flying,  skirting 
the  water,  of  varied  yet  sober  plumage.   The  names  of  these 

206 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

I  cannot  pretend  to  give,  except  the  monarch  of  them  all, 
in  size  and  majesty  of  flight,  the  albatross,  of  unsullied  white, 
as  its  name  implies  —  the  king  of  the  southern  ocean. 
Several  of  these  enormous  but  graceful  creatures  were  ever 
sweeping  about  us  in  almost  endless  flight,  hardly  moving 
their  wings,  but  inclining  them  wide-spread,  now  this  way, 
now  that,  hke  the  sails  of  a  windmill,  to  catch  the  breeze, 
almost  never  condescending  to  the  struggle  of  a  stroke. 
By  this  alone  they  kept  up  with  us,  running  eight  or  nine 
knots.  As  a  quiet  demonstration  of  reserve  power  it  was 
most  impressive;  while  the  watching  of  the  intricate  ma- 
noeuvres of  these  and  their  hmnbler  companions  afforded 
a  sort  of  circus  show,  a  relief  always  at  hand  to  the  mo- 
notony -of  the  voyage. 

As  this  has  remained  my  only  crossing  of  the  South 
Atlantic,  my  experience  cannot  claim  to  be  wide;  but,  as 
far  as  it  goes,  these  animating  accompaniments  of  a  voy- 
age under  sail  are  there  far  more  abundant  and  varied  than 
in  the  northern  ocean.  How  far  the  steamer  in  southern 
latitudes  may  still  share  this  privilege,  I  do  not  know;  but 
certainly  I  now  rarely  see  the  petrel,  unfairly  called  stormy, 
numbers  of  which  hung  ever  near  in  the  wake  of  a  sailing- 
ship  on  her  way  to  Europe,  keeping  company  easily  with 
a  speed  of  seven  or  eight  knots,  and  with  spare  power 
enough  to  gyrate  continually  in  their  wayward  flight. 
What  instinct  taught  them  that  there  was  food  there  for 
them?  and,  if  my  observation  agree  with  that  of  others, 
why  have  they  disappeared  from  steamers?  Is  it  the 
greater  pace  that  wearies,  or  the  commotion  of  the  screw 
that  damits  them? 

Our  second  Thursday  gale.  May  16th,  exceeded  the  first 
in  fury  and  duration.  Beginning  at  daybreak,  it  lasted 
till  after  sundown,  twelve  hours  in  all;  and  during  it  the 
Iroquois  took  on  board  the  only  sohd  sea  that  crossed  her 
rail  during  my  more  than  two  years'  service  in  her.    We 

207 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

sprung  also  our  main  mast-head,  which  made  us  feel  flat- 
teringly hke  the  ancient  mariners,  who,  as  we  had  read, 
were  always  "springing"  (breaking)  some  spar  or  other. 
Ancient  mariners  and  albatrosses  are  naturally  mutually 
suggestive.  Except  for  the  greater  violence,  the  conditions 
were  much  the  same  as  a  week  before ;  with  the  exception, 
however,  that  the  sun  shone  brightly  most  of  the  time  from 
a  cloudless  sky,  between  which  and  us  there  interposed  a 
milky  haze,  the  vapor  of  the  spoon-drift.  During  the  height 
of  the  storm  the  pressure  of  the  wind  in  great  degree  kept 
down  the  sea,  which  did  not  rise  threateningly  till  towards 
the  end.  For  the  rest,  our  voyage  of  thirty-three  hundred 
miles,  while  it  afforded  us  many  samples  of  weather,  pre- 
sented as  a  chief  characteristic  perpetual  westerly  gales, 
with  gloomy  skies  and  long,  high  following  swell.  Although 
the  wind  was  such  that  close  to  it  we  should  have  been 
reduced  to  storm-sails,  the  Iroquois  scudded  easily  before 
it,  carrying  considerable  canvas.  "Before  it"  must  not 
be  understood  to  mean  ahead  of  the  waves.  These,  as  they 
raced  along  continually,  swept  by  the  ship,  which  usually 
lifted  cleverly  abaft  as  they  came  up;  though  at  rare  in- 
tervals a  tiny  bit  of  a  crest  would  creep  along  over  the 
poop  and  fall  on  the  quarter-deck  below  —  nothing  to 
hurt.  The  onward  movement  of  the  billows,  missing  thus 
the  stern,  culminated  generally  about  half-way  forward, 
abreast  the  main-mast;  and  if  the  ship,  in  her  continual 
steady  but  easy  roll,  happened  just  then  to  inchne  to  one 
side,  she  would  scoop  in  a  few  dozen  buckets  of  water, 
enough  to  keep  the  decks  always  sloppy,  as  it  swashed 
from  side  to  side. 

From  Rio  to  the  Cape  took  us  thirty-two  days.  This 
bears  out  the  remark  I  find  in  an  old  letter  that  the 
Iroquois  was  very  slow;  but  it  attests  also  a  series  of  vicis- 
situdes which  have  passed  from  my  mind,  leaving  predom- 
inant those  only  that  I  have  noted.     Among  other  expe- 

208 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

riences,  practically  all  our  mess  crockery  was  smashed ;  the 
continual  rolling  seemed  to  make  the  servants  wilfully 
reckless.  Also,  having  an  inefficient  caterer,  our  sea 
stores  were  exhausted  on  the  way,  with  the  ludicrous  ex- 
ception of  about  a  peck  of  nutmegs.  Another  singular  in- 
cident remains  in  my  memory.  At  dawn  of  the  day  before 
oiu"  arrival,  a  mirage  presented  so  exactly,  and  in  the  proper 
quarter,  the  appearance  of  Table  Mountain,  the  landmark 
of  Cape  Town,  that  our  captain,  who  had  been  there  more 
than  once,  was  sure  of  it.  As  by  the  reckoning  it  must 
be  still  over  a  hundred  miles  distant,  the  navigating  officer 
was  summoned,  to  his  great  disconcertment,  to  be  eye- 
witness of  his  personal  error;  and  the  chronometers  fell 
imder  unmerited  suspicion.  The  navigator  was  an  in- 
veterate violinist.  He  had  a  curious  habit  of  undressing 
early,  and  then,  having  by  this  symbolic  act  laid  aside  the 
cares  of  the  day,  as  elbow  space  was  lacking  in  his  own  cabin, 
he  would  play  in  the  open  ward-room  for  an  hour  or  more 
before  turning  in;  always  standing,  and  attired  in  a  white 
night-shirt  of  flowing  dimensions.  He  was  a  tall,  dark, 
handsome  man,  the  contrast  of  his  full  black  beard  em- 
phasizing the  oddness  of  his  costume;  and  so  rapt  was  he 
in  his  performance  that  remarks  addressed  directly  to  him 
were  imheard.  I  often  had  to  remind  him  at  ten  o'clock 
that  music  must  not  longer  trouble  the  sleep  of  the  mid- 
watch  officers.  On  this  occasion,  with  appearances  so 
against  him,  perplexed  but  not  convinced,  after  looking  for 
a  few  moments  he  went  below  and  sought  communion  with 
his  beloved  instrument;  nor  did  the  fading  of  the  phantasm 
interrupt  his  fiddling.  When  announced,  he  listened  ab- 
sently, and  continued  his  aria  unmoved  by  such  trivialities. 
Cape  Flyaway,  as  counterfeits  like  this  are  called,  had  lasted 
so  long  and  looked  so  plausible  that  the  order  was  given 
to  raise  steam;  and  when  it  vanished  later,  after  the  man- 
ner of  its  kind,  the  step  was  not  countermanded,  for  the 

209 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

weather  was  calm  and  there  were  abundant  reasons  in  our 
conditions  for  hurrying  into  port. 

At  the  season  of  our  stay,  May  and  June,  the  anchorage 
at  Cape  Town  itself,  being  open  to  the  northward,  is  ex- 
posed to  heavy  gales  from  that  quarter,  often  fatal  to 
shipping.  I  believe  this  defect  has  now  been  remedied  by 
a  breakwater,  which  in  1867  either  had  not  been  begun  or 
was  not  far  enough  advanced  to  give  security.  Vessels 
therefore  commonly  betook  themselves  to  Simon's  Bay,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Cape,  where  these  winds  blew  off  shore. 
Thither  the  Iroquois  went;  and  as  communication  with 
Cape  Town,  some  twenty  miles  away,  was  by  stage,  the  op- 
portunity for  ordinary  visiting  was  indifferent.  We  went 
up  by  detachments,  each  staying  several  days.  The  great 
local  natural  feature  of  interest,  Table  Mountain,  has  since 
become  familiar  in  general  outline  by  the  illustrations  of  the 
Boer  War;  from  which  I  have  inferred  that  similar  forma- 
tions are  common  in  South  Africa,  just  as  I  remember  at 
the  head  of  Rio  Bay,  on  the  road  to  Petropolis,  a  repro- 
duction in  miniature,  both  in  form  and  color,  of  the  huge 
red-brown  Sugar-Loaf  Rock  that  dominates  the  entrance 
from  the  sea.  Seen  as  a  novelty,  Table  Mountain  was  most 
impressive ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  Altar  Mountain  would 
more  correctly  convey  its  appearance.  With  rocky  sides, 
which  rose  precipitate  as  the  Palisades  of  the  Hudson,  the 
sky-line  w^as  horizontal,  and  straight  as  though  drawn  by 
a  ruler.  At  times  a  white  cloud  descends,  covering  its  top 
and  creeping  like  loose  drapery  down  the  sides,  resembhng 
a  table-cloth;  which  name  is  given  it.  I  believe  that  is 
reckoned  a  sign  of  bad  weather. 

I  recall  many  things  connected  with  our  stay  there,  but 
chiefly  trivialities.  Most  amusing,  because  so  embarrass- 
ing to  the  unprepared,  was  an  unlooked-for  and  starthng 
attention  received  from  the  British  soldiery,  whom  I  now 
met  for  the  first  time :  for  the  war  at  home  had  hitherto 

210 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

prevented  the  men  of  my  date  from  having  much  foreign 
cruising.  I  was  in  imiform  in  the  streets,  confining  myself 
severely  to  my  own  business,  when  I  saw  approaching  a 
squad  of  redcoats  under  a  non-commissioned  officer.  Being 
used  to  soldiers,  I  was  observing  them  only  casually,  but 
still  with  the  interest  of  novelty,  when  wholly  unexpectedly 
I  heard,  "Eyes  right!"  and  the  entire  group,  as  one  man, 
without  moving  their  heads,  slewed  their  eyes  quickly 
round  and  fastened  them  steadily  on  me ;  the  corporal  also 
holding  me  with  his  glittering  eye,  while  carrying  his  hand 
to  his  cap.  Of  course,  in  all  salutes,  from  a  civilian  lifting 
his  hat  to  a  lady,  to  a  military  passing  in  review,  the  person 
saluting  looks  at  the  one  saluted;  but  to  find  one's  self  with- 
out warning  the  undivided  recipient  of  the  steady  stare  of 
some  half-dozen  men,  transfixed  by  what  Mr.  Snodgrass 
called  "the  mild  gaze  of  intelligence  beaming  from  the 
eyes  of  the  defenders  of  their  country,"  was,  however  flat- 
tering, somewhat  disturbing  to  one  not  naturally  obtrusive. 
With  us  the  salute  would  have  been  given,  of  course;  but 
only  by  the  non-commissioned  officer,  touching  his  cap. 
Afterwards  I  was  on  the  lookout  for  this,  and  dodged  it 
when  I  could. 

Both  in  Rio  and  at  the  Cape  the  necessity  for  repairs 
occasioned  delays  which  mihtated  somewhat  against  the 
full  development  of  our  cruise.  Through  this,  I  believe,  we 
missed  a  stop  at  Siam,  which,  consequently,  I  have  never 
visited ;  and  I  know  that  towards  the  end  our  captain  felt 
pressed  to  get  along.  Our  next  destination  was  Madagas- 
car; to  reach  which,  under  sail,  it  was  necessary  to  run 
well  to  the  eastward,  in  a  latitude  farther  south  than  that 
of  Cape  Town,  before  heading  north.  We  left  somewhat  too 
soon  the  westerly  winds  there  prevailing,  and  in  conse- 
quence did  not  go  to  Tamatave,  the  principal  port,  on  the 
east  side  of  the  great  island,  but  passed  instead  through 
the  Mozambique  Channel.     It  was  in  attempting  this  same 

211 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

passage  that  the  British  frigate  Aurora,  in  which  was  serv- 
ing the  poet  Falconer,  the  author  of  "The  Shipwreck,"  dis- 
appeared with  all  on  board;  by  what  nautical  fate  over- 
taken has  never  been  known.  His  first  shipwreck,  which 
he  celebrated  in  verse,  was  on  the  coast  of  Greece,  off  Cape 
Colonna;  the  second  in  these  far  southern  seas. 

The  French  occupation  of  Madagascar  postdates  our  visit 
to  it.  The  harbor  we  entered,  St.  Augustine's  Bay,  on 
the  west  side,  was  only  nominally  under  control  of  the 
native  dynasty  at  Antananarivo,  in  the  centre  of  the  isl- 
and; and  the  local  inhabitants  were  little,  if  at  all,  above 
barbarism.  Though  dark  in  color,  they  had  not  the  flat 
negro  features.  Wandering  mth  a  companion  through  a 
jungle,  having  lost  our  way,  we  came  unexpectedly  upon 
a  group  of  brown  people,  scantily  dressed,  the  most  con- 
spicuous member  of  which  was  a  woman  carrying  a  spear 
a  little  taller  than  herself,  the  head  of  which  was  burnished 
till  it  shone  like  silver;  whether  a  weapon,  or  simply  a  badge 
of  rank,  I  do  not  know.  They  rose  to  meet  us  in  friendly 
enough  fashion,  and  had  English  sufficient  to  set  us  on  our 
way.  The  place  was  frequented  by  whalers,  who  occasionally 
shipped  hands  from  among  the  natives;  one  such  came  on 
board  the  Iroquois,  and  within  a  limited  range  spoke  Eng- 
lish fluently.  Our  chief  acquaintance  was  known  to  us  as 
Prince  George,  and  I  presume  had  some  personal  importance 
in  the  neighborhood.  He  was  of  use  in  obtaining  supphes, 
hanging  about  the  deck  all  day,  obligingly  ready  at  any 
moment  to  take  a  glass  of  wine  or  a  cigar,  and  seemingly 
even  a  httle  sulky  that  he  was  not  asked  to  table.  The 
men  dressed  their  hair  in  peculiar  fashion,  gathered  together 
in  little  globes  about  the  size  of  a  golf  ball,  distributed 
somewhat  symmetrically  over  the  skull,  and  plastered  with 
a  substance  which  looked  like  blue  mud.  As  I  refrained 
from  close  inspection,  I  cannot  pronounce  certainly  what 
it  was. 

212 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

From  St.  Augustine's  Bay  we  went  on  to  the  Comoro 
Islands,  between  the  north  end  of  Madagascar  and  the 
African  main-land.  I  do  not  know  what  was  then  the  pre- 
cise political  status  of  this  pleasant-looking  group,  except 
that  one  of  them  had  for  some  years  been  under  French 
control.  Johanna,  at  which  we  stopped,  possessed  at  the 
least  a  qualified  self-government.  We  had  a  good  sight  of 
its  surface,  approaching  from  the  south  and  skirting  at 
moderate  distance  westward,  to  reach  the  principal  anch- 
orage, Johanna  Town,  on  the  north.  The  island  is  lofty 
— five  thousand  feet — and  of  volcanic  origin;  bearing  the 
family  likeness  which  I  have  found  in  all  such  that  I  have 
seen.  On  a  bright  day,  which  we  had,  they  are  very  pict- 
uresque to  look  on  from  the  sea,  with  their  deep  gullies, 
ragged  precipices,  and  varied  hues;  especially  striking  from 
the  effects  of  light  and  shadow  produced  by  the  exagger- 
ated inequalities  of  the  ground.  It  is  hard  to  say  which 
are  the  more  attractive,  these  or  the  totally  different  low 
coral  islands  of  the  tropics,  with  their  brilliant  white  sand, 
encircled  by  which,  as  by  a  setting  of  silver,  the  deep-green 
brush  glows  like  an  emerald.  It  is  hard,  however,  to  make 
other  than  a  pleasing  picture  with  a  combination  of  blue 
water  and  land.  Like  flowers,  they  may  be  more  or  less 
tastefully  arranged,  but  scarcely  can  be  less  than  beau- 
tiful. 

In  the  way  of  landscape  effect,  Johanna  had  a  special 
feature  of  its  own.  Up  to  a  height  of  about  fifteen  hundred 
feet  from  the  sea-level,  the  slopes  were  of  a  tawny  hue,  the 
color  of  grass  when  burned  up  by  drought.  Except  scat- 
tered waving  cocoanut  palms  which  grew  even  on  these 
hill-sides,  no  green  thing  was  apparent,  save  in  the  ravines, 
where  trees  seemed  to  thrive,  and  so  broke  the  monotony  of 
tint  with  streaks  of  sombre  verdure.  Farther  up,  the  peaks 
were  thickly  covered  with  a  forest,  which  looked  impene- 
trable.   The  abrupt  contrast  of  the  yellow  lower  land  with 

213 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

this  cap  of  tanglewood,  itself  at  times  covered,  at  times 
onl}'  (lotted,  with  fleecy  clouds,  was  singularly  vivid. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  island  were  Arabs,  mixed  with 
some  negro  blood,  and  wore  the  Oriental  costume  now  so 
familiar  to  us  all  in  this  age  of  illustration.  The  ship  was 
besieged  by  them  at  once,  and  throughout  our  stay,  at  all 
hours  that  they  were  permitted  to  come  on  board.  They 
were  cleanly  in  person,  as  their  religion  prescribes,  and  ap- 
plied no  offensive  substance  to  their  hair;  on  the  contrary, 
some  pleasant  perfume  was  perceptible  about  their  cloth- 
ing. The  coloring  generally  was  dark,  although  some, 
among  whom  was  the  ruler,  called  the  sultan,  have  olive 
skins  ;.l3ut  the  features  were  clear  and  prominent,  the  stat- 
ure and  form  good,  the  bearing  manly;  nor  did  they  seem 
other  than  intelligent.  The  teeth,  too,  were  fine,  when  not 
disfigured  by  the  chewing  of  the  betel  nut,  which,  when 
long  continued,  stains  them  a  displeasing  dark  red.  Like 
all  barbarians,  they  talked,  talked,  talked,  till  one  was 
nearly  deafened.  On  one  occasion,  a  group  of  them  fa- 
vored us  with  a  theological  exposition,  marked  by  somewhat 
elementary  conceptions.  The  ship  was  a  perfect  Babel  at 
meal-times,  when  the  intermission  of  work  allowed  the 
freest  visiting.  Every  man  who  came  brought  at  least  a 
half-dozen  fowl,  with  sweet  potatoes,  fruit,  and  eggs,  to 
match;  and  as,  in  addition  to  our  own  crew  bargaining, 
there  were  on  the  deck  some  fifty  or  sixty  natives,  all 
vociferating,  bartering,  beseeching,  or  yelling  to  the  fifty 
others  in  canoes  alongside,  the  tumult  and  noise  may  be 
conceived.  The  chickens,  too,  both  cocks  and  hens,  pres- 
ent by  the  hundred  in  basket-work  cages,  made  no  small 
contribution  to  the  general  uproar.  Chickens,  indeed,  nu- 
merous though  not  large,  are  among  the  chief  food  com- 
modities of  that  region;  the  usual  price,  as  I  recollect, 
being  a  dollar  the  dozen.  When  we  left  Johanna,  we  must 
have  had  on  board  several  hundred  as  sea-stock.    Not 

214 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

infrequently  one  would  get  out  of  its  cage,  and  if  pursued 
would  often  end  by  flapping  overboard,  so  by  drowning 
anticipating  its  appointed  doom;  but  it  was  a  pathetic 
sight  to  see  the  poor  creature,  upborne  by  its  feathers  so 
long  as  dry,  floating  on  the  waste  of  waters  in  the  wake  of 
the  ship  which  seemed  almost  heartlessly  to  forsake  it. 

The  faith  of  the  island  being  Mohammedan,  we  found  it 
safe  to  give  a  large  Hberty  to  the  crew.  Especially,  if  I 
rightly  recall,  I  availed  myself  of  the  circumstance  to  let 
go  certain  ne'er-do-wells  whose  conduct  iinder  temptation 
was  not  to  be  depended  on.  We  had  the  unprecedented 
experience  that  they  all  came  back  on  time  and  sober; 
thus  avouching  that  the  precepts  of  the  Prophet  concern- 
ing rum  were  obeyed  in  Johanna.  Exemplary  in  this,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  say,  otherwise,  on  what  precise  rung 
of  the  ladder  stretching  from  barbarism  to  civilization  these 
people  stood.  In  manner  towards  us  they  were  pleas- 
ant and  smiling;  not  averse  to  the  arts  of  diplomacy,  but 
perhaps  a  little  transparent  in  their  approaches  to  a  de- 
sired object.  I  went  on  shore  one  Friday,  their  Sunday, 
which  was  inadvertent  on  my  part,  for  their  religious  duties 
interfered  with  customary  routine;  one  and  another  ex- 
cused themselves  to  me  on  the  plea  that  they  must  go  to 
pray.  I  was  known,  however,  to  be  in  authority  on  board, 
which  produced  for  me  some  simple  hospitality,  principally 
not  very  inviting  lemonade — attentions  that  I  soon  found 
to  be  not  wholly  disinterested.  Next  day  one  of  my  hosts 
came  on  board  and  interviewed  me  with  many  bows.  ''  The 
Iroquois  very  fine  ship,  much  better  than  English  ship. 
Captain  English  very  good  man;  and  first  lieutenant  [my- 
self] he  venj  good  man;"  and  the  complimenter  would  like 
certain  articles  within  the  gift  of  the  said  very  good  man, 
together  with  a  note  to  bearer,  permitting  him  to  come 
aboard  at  any  time. 

Being  by  this  some  weeks  away  from  Cape  Town,  we  sent 

215 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

our  wash  ashore;  a  resort  of  desperation.  It  came  back 
clean  enough,  but  for  ironing — well ;  and  as  to  starch,  much 
in  the  precUcament  of  Boatswain  Chuck's  frilled  shirts 
after  the  gale,  upon  which,  while  flying  in  the  breeze,  he 
looked  with  a  degree  of  professional  philosophy  that  could 
express  itself  only  by  thrashing  the  cooper.  Crumpled 
would  be  a  mild  expression  for  our  linen.  We  remon- 
strated, but  were  met  with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders  and 
a  deprecatory  but  imperturbable  smile — "Yes;  Johanna 
wash!"  And  "Johanna"  we  foimd  we  were  expected  to 
receive  as  a  sufficient  explanation  for  any  deficiencies  in 
any  line.  If  not  satisfactory  to  us,  it  was  at  least  modest 
in  thorn. 

Grave  courtesies,  ceremonious  in  conception,  if  rather 
rudimentary  in  execution,  were  exchanged  between  us  and 
the  authorities  of  Johanna.  Our  captain  returned  the  visit 
of  the  official  in  charge  of  the  place,  and  subsequently  called 
upon  the  sultan,  who  came  to  the  town  while  we  were  there. 
I  went  along  on  the  first  occasion.  Upon  reaching  the 
beach  we  found  a  guard  of  some  forty  negro  soldiers,  whose 
equipment,  as  to  shoes,  resembled  that  of  the  Barbadian 
company  immortalized  in  Peter  Simple;  but  in  this  instance 
there  was  no  attempt  at  that  decorous  regard  for  externals 
which  ordered  those  with  both  shoes  and  stockings  to  fall 
in  in  the  front  rank,  and  those  with  neither  to  keep  in  the 
rear.  They  were  commanded  by  a  young  Arab,  who  seem- 
ed very  anxious  to  do  all  in  style,  rising  on  tiptoe  at  the 
several  orders,  which  he  jerked  out  with  vim,  and  to  my 
surprise  in  English.  When  duly  pointed,  we  marched  off 
to  the  sound  of  a  drum,  accompanied  by  a  peculiar  monoto- 
nous wail  on  a  kind  of  trumpet;  the  order  of  the  proces- 
sion being,  1,  music;  2,  the  soldiers,  led  by  an  old  sergeant 
in  a  high  state  of  excitement  and  coat-collar,  which  held 
the  poor  fellow's  head  hke  a  vise;  and,  3,  our  captain  and 
his  attendants.    The  visit  to  the  sultan,  two  days  later, 

216 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

was  marked  by  additional  features,  indicative,  I  presume,  of 
the  greater  dignity  of  the  event;  the  captain  being  now 
carried  in  a  chair  with  a  red  silk  umbrella  over  his  head. 

Between  three  and  four  years  before  our  visit,  the  Con- 
federate steamer  Alabama  had  stopped  at  Johanna,  and, 
so  at  least  our  friends  told  us,  Semmes  had  promised  them 
a  Yankee  whaler  or  two.  Whether  he  found  the  whalers 
or  not  I  cannot  say;  but  to  the  Johannese  it  was  a  Bar- 
mecide feast,  or  like  the  anticipation  of  Sisera's  ladies — 
"  to  every  man  a  damsel  or  two."  To  use  their  own  quaint 
English,  the  next  thing  they  heard  of  the  Alabama,  "  he  go 
down." 

We  left  Johanna  with  the  southwest  monsoon,  which  in 
the  Indian  Ocean  and  China  Sea  blows  from  June  to 
September  with  the  regularity  of  the  trade-winds  of  the 
Atlantic,  both  in  direction  and  force.  There  the  favorable 
resemblance  ends ;  for,  in  the  region  through  which  we  were 
passing,  this  monsoon  is  overcast,  usually  gloomy,  and  ex- 
cessively damp.  The  northeast  monsoon,  which  prevails 
during  the  winter  months,  is  clear  and  dry.  The  con- 
sequent struggle  with  shoe-leather,  and  the  deterioration  of 
the  same,  is  disheartening.  But,  though  surcharged  with 
moisture,  rain  does  not  fall  to  any  great  extent  in  the  open 
sea,  nor  until  the  atmospheric  current  impinges  on  land, 
when  it  seems  to  be  squeezed,  like  a  sponge  by  the  hand, 
with  resultant  precipitation.  Our  conditions  were  there- 
fore pleasant  enough.  Being  under  sail  only,  the  wind 
went  faster  than  we,  giving  a  cooling  breeze  as  it  passed 
over;  and  it  was  as  steady  and  moderate  as  it  was  fair  for 
our  next  destination,  Aden,  to  reach  which  we  were  now 
pointing  for  Cape  Guardafui.  The  Iroquois  ran  along 
steadily  northward,  six  to  eight  knots,  followed  by  a 
big  sea,  but  so  regular  that  she  rolled  only  with  a  slow, 
steady  swing,  not  disagreeable.  The  veiled  sun  showed 
sufficiently  for  sights,  without  burning  heat,  and  by  the 

217 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

same  token  we  passed  that  luminary  on  our  course;  that 
is,  he  was  north  of  us  while  at  Johanna,  and  one  day  on 
this  rmi  we  got  north  of  him.  This  must  have  been  after 
we  had  crossed  the  equator;  for,  being  August,  the  sun 
was  still  north  of  the  "Line." 

This  reminds  me  that,  the  day  we  thus  passed  the  sun, 
our  navigator,  usually  very  exact,  applied  his  declination 
wrong  at  noon,  which  gave  us  a  wrong  latitude.  For  a 
few  minutes  the  discrepancy  between  the  observation  and 
the  log  caused  a  shaking  of  heads;  the  log  doubtless  fell 
under  an  unmerited  suspicion,  or  else  we  had  encountered 
a  current  not  hitherto  noted  in  the  books,  the  usual 
solvent  in  such  perplexities.  I  may  explain  for  the  un- 
learned in  navigation  that  dechnation  of  a  heavenly  body 
corresponds  in  the  celestial  sphere  to  the  latitude  of 
an  object  on  the  terrestrial.  The  sun,  being  a  leisurely 
celestial  globe-trotter,  continually  varies  his  latitude  — 
declination — within  a  zone  bounded  by  the  two  tropics; 
and  the  rule  runs  that  when  his  dechnation  is  of  the  same 
name  (north  or  south)  as  his  direction  from  the  ship  at 
noon,  the  dechnation  is  added  or  subtracted,  I  now  forget 
which,  in  the  computation  that  ascertains  the  vessel's  pre- 
cise position.  This  has  to  be  remembered  when  he  is  pass- 
ed overhead,  in  the  zenith;  for  then  the  bearing  changes, 
while  his  declination  remains  of  the  same  name.  If  the 
resulting  error  is  large,  of  course  the  mistake  is  detected 
immediately ;  a  slight  difference  might  pass  unnoted  with 
dangerous  consequences. 

At  Johanna,  or  possibly  at  St.  Augustine's,  some  of  our 
officers  and  men,  moved  by  that  queer  propensity  of 
mankind  to  acquire  strange  objects,  however  useless,  had 
bought  animals  of  the  kind  called  mongoos.  There  were 
perhaps  a  half-dozen  of  these  in  all.  The  result  was  that 
most  of  them,  one  way  or  another,  escaped  and  took  refuge 
aloft  in  the  rigging,  where  it  was  as  hopeless  to  attempt 

218 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

recapture  as  for  a  man  to  r)ursue  a  gray  squirrel  in  a  tree. 
The  poor  beggars  had  achieved  their  liberty,  however,  with- 
out the  proverbial  crust  of  bread  or  cup  of  water;  and  in 
consequence,  after  fasting  all  day,  gave  themselves  to  pred- 
atory nocturnal  forays,  which  were  rather  startling  when 
unexpectedly  aroused  by  them  from  sleep.  The  ward- 
room pantry  was  near  my  berth,  and  I  remember  being 
awaked  by  a  great  commotion  and  scuffling,  as  one  or  more 
utensils  were  upset  and  knocked  about  in  the  unhappy 
beast's  attempt  to  get  at  water  kept  there  in  a  little  cask. 
No  reconcilement  between  them  and  man  was  effected,  and 
one  by  one  they  dropped  overboard,  the  victims  of  acci- 
dent or  suicide,  noted  or  unnoted,  to  their  deliverance  and 
our  relief.  While  they  lasted  it  was  pathetic  to  watch 
their  furtive  movements  and  unrelaxed  vigilance,  jeal- 
ously guarding  the  freedom  which  was  held  under  such 
hopeless  surroundings  and  must  cost  them  so  dear  at  last. 
When  the  ship  had  romided  Cape  Guardafui  and  fair- 
ly entered  the  Strait  of  Bab-el-Mandeb,  the  alteration  of 
weather  conditions  was  immediate  and  starthng.  The  heat 
became  all  at  once  intense  and  dry.  From  the  latter  cir- 
cumstance the  relief  was  great.  I  remember  that  many 
years  afterwards,  having  spent  a  month  or  more  determin- 
ing a  site  for  a  n9,vy-yard  in  Puget  Sound,  where  the  tem- 
perature is  delightful  but  the  atmosphere  saturated,  I 
experienced  a  similar  sense  of  bodily  comfort,  when  we 
reached  Arizona,  returning  by  the  Southern  Pacific  Rail- 
road. One  morning  I  got  up  from  the  sleeper  and  walked 
out  into  the  rare,  crisp  air  of  a  way  station,  delighted  to 
find  myself  literally  as  dry  as  a  bone,  and  a  very  old  bone, 
too;  tertiary  period,  let  us  say.  The  sudden  change  in  the 
strait  proved  fatal  to  one  of  our  officers.  He  had  been  ailing 
for  a  few  days,  but  on  the  night  after  we  doubled  the  cape 
woke  up  from  a  calm  sleep  in  wild  delirium,  and  in  a  brief 
period  died  from  the  bursting  of  an  aneurism;  an  effect 

219 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

which  the  surgeon  attributed  to  the  abrupt  increase  of 
heat.     I  may  add  that,  though  dry,  the  air  was  felt  by  us 
to  be  debihtating.    During  the  ten  days  passed  in  the  gulf, 
young  as  I  then  was,  I  was  indisposed  to  any  unusual  bod- 
ily or  mental  effort.     What  breeze  reached  us,  coming  over 
desert  from  every  direction,  was  like  the  blast  of  a  furnace, 
although  the  height  of  the  thermometer  was  not  excessive. 
It  was  scarcely  fair  to  Aden  to  visit  it  in  midsummer, 
but  our  voyage  had  not  been  timed  with  reference  to  sea- 
sons or  GUI'  comfort.      I  shall  not  weary  a  reader  with  any 
attempt  at  description  of  the  treeless  surroundings  and 
barren  lava  crags  that  constitute  the  scenery;  which,  more- 
over, many  may  have  seen  for  themselves.     What  chiefly 
interested  me  were  the  Jews  and  the  camels.     Like  Gibral- 
tar, and  in  less  measure  Key  West,  Aden  is  a  place  where 
meet  many  and  divers  peoples  from  Asia,  from  Africa,  and 
from  Europe.     Furthermore,  it  has  had  a  long  and  checker- 
ed history;  and  this,  at  an  important  centre  on  a  commer- 
cial route,  tends  to  the  gathering  of  incongruous  elements. 
English,  Arabs,  Parsees  from  India,  Somalese  from  Africa, 
— across  the  gulf, — sepoy  soldiers,  and  Jews,  all  were  to  be 
met ;  and  in  varieties  of  costume  for  which  we  had  not  been 
prepared  by  our  narrow  experience  of  Oriental  dress  in 
Johanna.    The  Jews  most  attracted  my  attention — an  at- 
traction of  repulsion  to  the  type  there  exhibited,  though 
I  am  without  anti-Semitic  feeling.     That  Jesus  Christ  was 
a  Jew  covers  His  race  for  me.     These  were  reported  to 
have  enjoyed  in  earlier  times  a  period  of  much  prosperity, 
which  had  been  destroyed  in  one  of  the  dramatic  political 
reverses  frequent  in  Eastern  annals.     Since  then  they  had 
remained  a  degraded  and  abject  class.     Certainly,   they 
were  externally  a  very  peculiar  and  unprepossessing  peo- 
ple.    The   physiognomy   commonly   associated   with   the 
name  Jew  was  very  evident,  though  the  cast  of  feature  had 
been  brutalized  by  ages  of  oppression  and  servility.    A 

220 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO   CHINA 

singular  distinctive  mark  was  the  wearing  on  both  sides 
of  the  forehead  long  curls  falling  to  the  shoulders.  Cring- 
ing and  subservient  in  manner,  and  as  traders,  there 
was  yet  apparent  behind  the  Uriah  Heap  exterior  a  fierce 
cruelty  of  expression  which  would  make  a  mob  hideous, 
if  once  let  loose.  A  mob,  indeed,  is  ever  terrible;  but  these 
men  reconstituted  for  me,  with  added  vividness,  the  scene 
and  the  cry  of  ''Crucify  Him!" 

Although  I  was  new  to  the  East,  camels  in  their  un- 
couth form  and  shambhng  gait  had  been  made  familiar  by 
menageries;  but  in  Aden  I  first  saw  them  in  the  circum- 
stances which  give  the  sense  of  appropriateness  necessary 
to  the  completeness  of  an  impression,  and,  indeed,  to  its  en- 
joyment. Environment  is  assuredly  more  essential  to  ap- 
preciation than  is  commonly  recognized.  Does  beer  taste 
as  good  in  America  as  in  England?  I  think  not,  unless 
perhaps  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island.  Climatic,  doubtless. 
I  have  been  told  by  Englishmen  that  the  very  best  pine- 
apples to  be  had  are  raised  in  England  under  glass.  Very 
good;  but  where  is  your  tropical  heat  to  supply  the  ap- 
preciative palate?  I  remember,  in  a  railway  train  in 
Guatemala,  some  women  came  along  with  pineapples.  I 
gave  five  cents,  expecting  one  fruit;  she,  unwilling  to  make 
change,  forced  upon  me  three.  Small,  yes;  pygmies  doubt- 
less to  the  hot-house  aristocrats ;  but  at  a  dinner-table  with 
artificial  heat  could  one  possibly  want  them  as  much,  or 
enjoy  them  as  keenly,  as  under  the  burning  southern  sun, 
eaten  like  an  apple,  the  juice  streaming  to  the  ground? 
A  camel  sauntering  down  Broadway  would  be  odd  only; 
a  camel  in  an  Eastern  street  has  the  additional  setting 
needed  to  fix  him  accurately  in  your  gallery  of  mental  pict- 
ures; though,  for  the  matter  of  that,  I  suppose  a  desert 
would  be  a  still  more  fitting  surrounding.  Aden  has  no 
natural  water  supply  for  daily  use;  one  of  the  sights  are  the 
great  tanks  for  storing  it,  constructed  by  some  by-gone 

IS  221 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

dynasty.  When  we  were  there  the  place  rehecl  for  emer- 
gencies upon  the  more  modern  expedient  of  condensers, 
but  for  ordinary  consumption  was  mainly  dependent  upon 
that  brought  in  skins  from  the  adjacent  country  on  the 
backs  of  camels,  which  returned  charged  with  merchandise. 
I  watched  one  of  these  ships  of  the  desert  being  laden  for 
the  homeward  voyage.  He  was  on  his  knees,  placidly 
chewing  the  cud  of  his  last  meal,  but  with  a  watchful  eye 
behind  him  upon  his  master's  movements.  Eternal  vigi- 
lance the  price  of  liberty,  or  at  least  the  safeguard  against 
oppression,  was  clearly  his  conviction;  nor  did  he  believe 
in  that  outworn  proverb  not  to  yell  before  you  are  hurt. 
As  each  additional  package,  small  or  big,  was  laid  on  the 
accumulating  burden,  he  stretched  out  his  long  neck, 
craned  it  round  to  the  rear,  opening  his  mouth  as  though 
to  bite,  to  which  he  seemed  full  fain,  at  the  same  time 
emitting  a  succession  of  cries  more  wrathful  even  than 
dolorous,  though  this  also  they  were.  But  the  wail  of  the 
sufferer  went  unheeded,  and  deservedly;  for  when  the  load 
was  complete  to  the  last  pound  he  rose,  obedient  to  signal, 
and  stepped  off  quietly,  evidently  at  ease.  He  had  had 
his  grumble,  and  was  satisfied. 

An  impression  which  accumulates  upon  the  attentive 
traveller  following  the  main  roads  of  maritime  commerce  is 
the  continual  outcropping  of  the  British  soldier.  It  is  not 
that  there  is  so  much  of  him,  but  that  he  is  so  manywhere. 
In  our  single  voyage,  at  places  so  apart  as  Cape  Town,  Aden, 
Bombay,  Singapore,  Hong  Kong.  Although  not  on  our 
route,  nevertheless  hnked  to  the  four  last  named  by  the 
great  ocean  highway  between  East  and  West,  consecutive 
even  in  those  distant  days  before  the  Suez  Canal,  he  was 
already  in  force  in  Gibraltar  and  Malta;  since  which  he  is 
to  be  found  in  Cypress  also  and  in  Egypt.  He  is  no 
chance  phenomenon,  but  an  obvious  effect  of  a  noteworthy 
cause;  an  incident  of  current  history,  the  exponent,  uncon- 

222 


A  ROUNDABOUT   ROAD  TO   CHINA 

sciously  to  himself,  of  many  great  events.  In  our  country 
wc  have  wisely  learned  to  scrutinize  with  distrust  arguments 
for  manifest  destiny;  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  well  to  note  and 
ponder  a  manifest  present,  which  speaks  to  a  manifest  past. 
From  Aden  the  Iroquois  ran  along  the  southern  coast  of 
Arabia  to  Muscat,  within  the  entrance  of  the  Persian  Gulf. 
Here,  after  leaving  the  open  sea,  we  met  a  recurrence  of 
the  heat,  and,  in  general  features,  of  the  scenery  we  had 
left  at  Aden;  the  whole  confirming  the  association  of  the 
name  Arabia  with  scorching  and  desert.  The  Cove  of  Mus- 
cat, though  a  mere  indentation  of  the  shore-line,  furnishes 
an  excellent  harbor,  being  sheltered  by  a  rocky  island 
which  constitutes  a  natural  breakwater.  There  is  con- 
siderable trade,  and  the  position  is  naturally  strong  for  de- 
fence, with  encircling  cliffs  upon  which  forts  have  been 
built;  but  from  our  experience,  told  below,  it  is  probable  that 
their  readiness  did  not  correspond  to  their  formidable  as- 
pect. From  the  anchorage  of  the  Iroquois  the  town  was 
hardly  to  be  descried,  the  gray  color  of  the  stone  used  in 
construction  blending  with  the  background  of  the  moun- 
tains, from  which  probably  it  had  been  quarried;  but  nearer 
it  is  imposing  in  appearance,  there  being  several  minarets, 
and  some  massive  buildings,  among  which  the  ruins  of  a 
Portuguese  cathedral  bear  their  mute  testimony  to  a 
transitory  era  in  the  long  history  of  the  East.  During  our 
stay  there  was  some  disturbance  in  the  place.  Our  in- 
formation was  that  the  reigning  sovereign  had  killed  his 
father  two  years  before;  and  that  in  consequence,  either 
through  revenge  or  jealousy,  his  father's  brother  kept  him 
constantly  stirred  up  by  invasion,  or  threats  of  invasion, 
from  the  inner  country.  Such  an  alarm  postponed  for  the 
moment  a  ceremonious  visit  which  our  captain  was  to 
pay,  but  it  took  place  next  day.  As  it  called  for  full 
uniform,  I  begged  off.  Those  who  went  returned  with 
unfavorable  reports,  both  of  the  town  and  of  the  sultan. 

223 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

A  rather  funny  incident  here  attended  our  exchange  of 
civihties.  In  ports  where  there  is  cause  to  think  that  the 
expenditure  of  powder  may  be  inconvenient  to  yoin*  hosts, 
or  that  for  any  reason  they  may  not  return  a  salute,  it  is 
customary  first  to  inquire  whether  the  usual  national  honors 
"to  the  flag"  will  be  acceptable  and  duly  answered,  gun  for 
gim.  In  Aden,  being  British,  of  course  no  questions  were 
asked;  but  in  Muscat  I  presume  they  were,  for  failure  to 
give  full  measure  creates  a  diplomatic  incident  and  corre- 
spondence. At  all  events,  we  saluted— twenty-one  guns; 
to  which  the  castle  replied.  When  the  tale  was  but  half 
complete  there  came  from  one  of  its  cannon  a  huge  puff 
of  smoke,  but  no  accompanying  report.  "Shall  I  comit 
that?"  shouted  the  quartermaster,  whose  special  duty  was 
to  keep  tally— that  we  got  our  full  pound  of  flesh.  A  gen- 
eral laugh  followed;  the  impression  had  resembled  that 
produced  by  an  impassioned  orator,  the  waving  of  whose 
arms  you  see,  without  hearing  the  words  which  give  point 
to  his  gesticulations,  and  the  quartermaster's  query  drove 
home  the  absurdity.  It  was  solemnly  decided,  however, 
that  that  should  be  reckoned  a  gim.  The  intention  was 
good,  if  result  was  imperfect.  We  had  been  done  out  of 
our  noise,  but  we  had  had  our  smoke;  and,  in  these  days  of 
smokeless  powder,  it  is  hopeful  to  record  an  instance  of 
noiseless. 

In  those  few  indolent  days  which  we  drowsed  away  in 
the  heat  of  Muscat,  one  thing  I  noticed  was  the  vivid  green 
of  the  water,  especially  in  patches  near  the  shore,  and  in 
the  crevices  of  the  rocky  basin.  I  wonder  did  Moore  have 
a  hint  of  this,  or  draw  upon  his  imagination?  Certainly  it 
was  there— a  green  more  brilliant  than  any  I  have  ever  seen 
elsewhere,  and  of  different  shade. 

"No  pearl  ever  lay  under  Oman's  green  water, 
More  pure  in  its  shell  than  thy  spirit  in  thee." 
224 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

After  the  comparatively  sequestered  series  of  St.  Augus- 
tine's Bay,  the  Comoros,  Aden,  and  Muscat,  our  next  port, 
Bombay,  seemed  hke  returning  to  city  hubbub  and  accus- 
tomed ways.  True,  Indian  hfe  was  strange  to  most  of  our 
officers,  if  not  to  all;  but  there  was  about  Bombay  that 
which  made  you  feel  you  had  got  back  into  the  world, 
albeit  in  many  particulars  as  different  from  that  you  had 
hitherto  known  as  Rip  Van  Winkle  found  after  his  long 
slumber.  Then,  a  decade  only  after  the  great  mutiny, 
travel  to  India  for  travel's  sake  was  much  more  rare  than 
now.  The  railway  system,  that  great  promoter  of  journey- 
ings,  was  not  complete.  Two  years  later,  when  returning 
from  China,  I  found  opportunity  to  go  overland  from 
Calcutta  to  Bombay;  but  in  the  interior  had  to  make  a 
long  stage  by  carriage  between  Jubbulpore  and  Nagpore. 
Since  that  time  many  have  visited  and  many  have  written. 
I  shall  therefore  spare  myself  and  my  possible  readers  the 
poor  portrayal  of  that  which  has  been  already  and  better 
described.  Johnson's  advice  to  Boswell,  "Tell  what  you 
have  observed  yourself,"  I  take  to  mean  something  differ- 
ent from  those  externals  the  sight  of  which  is  common  to 
all;  unless,  as  in  the  Corsica  of  Boswell,  few  go  to  see  them. 
What  you  see  is  that  which  you  personally  have  the  faculty 
of  perceiving;  depends  upon  you  as  much  as  upon  the  object 
itself.  It  may  not  be  worth  reporting,  but  it  is  all  you 
have.  I  do  not  think  I  remember  of  Bombay  anything 
thus  peculiarly  my  own.  I  do  recall  the  big  snakes  we  saw 
lying  apparently  asleep  on  the  sea,  fifty  or  sixty  miles  from 
land.  Perhaps  readers  who  have  not  visited  the  East  may 
not  know  that  such  modified  sea-serpents  are  to  be  seen 
there,  as  is  a  smaller  variety  in  the  Strait  of  Malacca. 

From  Bombay  we  made  a  long  leg  to  Singapore.  We 
had  sailed  in  early  February;  it  was  now  late  September, 
and  our  captain,  as  I  have  said  before,  began  to  feel  anx- 
ious to  reach  the  station.    Owing  to  this  haste,  we  omitted 

225 


FROM   SAIL  TO  STEAM 

Ceylon  and  Calcutta,  which  did  not  correspond  to  the  ex- 
pectation or  the  wishes  of  the  admiral ;  and  we  missed — as 
I  tliink — orders  sent  us  to  take  in  Siam  before  coming  to 
Hong  Kong.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether,  had  we  received 
them,  we  should  have  seen  more  of  interest  than  awaited 
us  shortly  after  our  arrival  in  Japan.  At  all  events,  as 
in  duty  bound,  I  shall  imitate  my  captain,  and  skip  rap- 
idly over  this  intervening  period.  There  is  in  it  nothing 
that  would  justify  my  formed  intention  not  to  enlarge 
upon  that  which  others  have  seen  and  told. 

We  made  the  run  to  Singapore  at  the  change  of  the 
monsoon,  towards  the  end  of  September ;  and  at  that  time 
a  quiet  passage  is  likely,  unless  you  are  so  unlucky  as 
to  encounter  one  of  the  cyclones  which  frequently  attend 
the  break-up  of  the  season  at  this  transition  period.  There 
is  a  tendency  nowadays  to  discredit  the  equinox  as  a  storm- 
breeder.  As  regards  the  particular  day,  doubtless  recog- 
nition of  a  general  fact  may  have  lapsed  into  superstition 
as  to  a  date;  but  in  considering  the  phenomena  of  the 
monsoons,  the  great  fixed  currents  of  air  blowing  alternate- 
ly to  or  from  the  heated  or  cooled  continent  of  Asia,  it 
seems  only  reasonable,  when  the  two  are  striving  for  pre- 
dominance, to  expect  the  uncertain  and  at  times  terrific 
weather  which  as  a  matter  of  experience  does  occur  about 
the  period  of  the  autumnal  equinox  in  the  India  and  China 
seas.  But  after  we  had  made  our  southing  from  Bombay 
our  course  lay  nearly  due  east,  with  a  fresh,  fair,  west  wind, 
within  five  degrees  of  the  equator,  a  zone  wherein  cyclonic 
disturbance  seldom  intrudes.  One  of  the  complaints  made 
by  residents  against  the  climate  of  Singapore,  so  pleasant 
to  a  stranger,  is  the  wearisome  monotony.  Close  to  the 
equator,  it  has  too  much  sameness  of  characteristic;  tou- 
jours  perdrix.  Winter  doubtless  adds  to  our  appreciation 
of  summer.  For  all  that,  I  personally  am  ready  to  dis- 
pense with  snow. 

226 


A  ROUNDABOUT  ROAD  TO  CHINA 

From  Singapoi'e,  another  commercial  centre  with  variety 
of  inhabitants,  we  carried  the  same  smooth  water  up  to 
Manila,  where  we  stopped  a  few  days  for  coal.  This  was 
the  first  of  two  visits  paid  while  on  the  station  to  this  port, 
which  not  our  wildest  imagination  expected  ever  to  see 
under  our  flag.  Long  as  American  eyes  had  been  fixed 
upon  Cuba,  in  the  old  days  of  negro  slavery,  it  had  occurred 
to  none,  I  fancy,  to  connect  possession  of  that  island  with 
these  distant  Spanish  dependencies.  Here  our  quiet  en- 
vironment was  lost.  The  northeast  monsoon  had  set  in  in 
full  force  when  we  started  for  Hong  Kong,  and  the  run 
across  was  made  under  steam  and  fore-and-aft  canvas, 
which  we  were  able  to  carry  close  on  the  wind;  a  wet  pas- 
sage, throwing  a  good  deal  of  water  about,  but  with  a  brill- 
iant sky  and  delightful  temperature.  It  would  be  hard 
to  exaggerate  the  beauty  of  the  weather  which  this  wind 
brings.  In  the  northern  American  states  we  have  autum- 
nal spells  like  it;  but  along  the  Chinese  coast  it  continues 
in  uninterrupted  succession  of  magnificent  days,  with  hard- 
ly a  break  for  three  or  four  months;  an  invigorating  breeze 
always  blowing,  the  thermometer  ranging  between  50°  and 
60°,  a  cloudless  sky,  the  air  perfectly  dry,  so  that  furniture 
and  wood  fittings  shrink,  and  crack  audibly.  As  rain  does 
not  fall  during  this  favored  season,  the  dust  becomes  ob- 
jectionable; but  that  drawback  does  not  extend  to  ship- 
board. The  man  must  be  unreasonable  who  doubts  life 
being  worth  living  during  the  northeast  monsoon.  Hong 
Kong  is  just  within  the  tropics,  and  experiences  probably 
the  coolest  weather  of  any  tropical  port.  Key  West,  in 
the  same  latitude,  is  well  enough  in  a  GuK  of  Mexico  north- 
er; that  is,  if  you  too  are  well.  The  last  time  I  ever  saw 
General  Winfield  Scott,  once  our  national  military  hero, 
was  there,  during  a  norther.  I  had  called,  and  found  him  in 
misery;  his  gigantic  frame  swathed  in  heavy  clothing,  his 
face  pallid  with  cold.     He  explained  that  he  liked  always 

227 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

to  be  in  a  gentle  perspiration,  and  had  come  to  Key  West 
in  search  of  such  conditions.  These  the  place  usually  af- 
fords, but  the  houses  are  not  built  to  shut  out  the  chill 
which  accompanies  a  hard  norther.  The  general  was  then 
eighty,  and  died  within  the  year. 


X 

CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

1867-1869 

The  Iroquois  had  been  as  nearly  as  possible  nine  months 
on  her  way  from  New  York  to  Hong  Kong.  A  ship  of  the 
same  class,  the  Wachusett,  which  left  the  station  as  we 
reached  it,  had  taken  a  year,  following  much  the  same 
route.  Her  first  lieutenant,  who  during  the  recent  Span- 
ish War  became  familiarly  known  to  the  public  as  Jack 
PhiHp,  told  me  that  she  was  within  easy  distance  of  Hong 
Kong  the  day  before  the  anniversary  of  leaving  home. 
Her  captain  refused  to  get  up  steam;  for,  he  urged,  it 
would  be  such  an  interesting  coincidence  to  arrive  on  the 
very  date,  month  and  day,  that  she  sailed  the  year  before. 
I  fear  that  man  would  have  had  no  scruple  about  con- 
triving an  opportunity. 

As  the  anchor  dropped,  several  Chinese  boats  clustered 
alongside,  eager  to  obtain  their  share  of  the  ship's  custom. 
It  is  the  habit  in  ships  of  war  to  allow  one  or  more  boat- 
men of  a  port  the  privilege  of  bringing  off  certain  articles 
for  private  purchase ;  such  as  the  various  specialties  of  the 
place,  and  food  not  embraced  in  the  ship's  ration.  From 
the  number  of  consumers  on  board  a  vessel,  even  of  mod- 
erate size,  this  business  is  profitable  to  the  small  traders 
who  ply  it,  and  who  from  time  immemorial  have  been 
known  as  bumboatmen.  A  good  name  for  fair  dealing, 
and  for  never  smuggling  intoxicants,  is  invaluable  to  them ; 
and  when  thus  satisfactory  they  are  passed  on  from  ship 

229 


FROM  SAIL  TO   STEAM 

to  ship,  through  long  years,  by  letters  of  recommendation 
from  first  lieutenants.  Their  dealings  are  chiefly  with  the 
crew,  the  officers'  messes  being  provided  by  their  stew- 
ards, who  market  on  shore;  but  at  times  officers,  too,  will  in 
this  way  buy  something  momentarily  desired.  I  remem- 
ber an  amusing  experience  of  a  messmate  of  mine,  who, 
being  discontented  with  the  regular  breakfast  set  before 
him,  got  some  eggs  from  the  bumboat.  Already  on  a 
growl,  he  was  emphatic  in  directing  that  these  should  be 
cooked  very  soft,  and  great  was  his  wrath  when  they  came 
back  hard  as  stones.  Upon  investigation  it  proved  that 
they  were  already  hard-boiled  when  bought.  The  cable 
was  not  yet  secured  when  these  applicants  crowded  to  the 
gangway,  brandishing  their  certificates,  and  seeking  each 
to  be  first  on  deck.  The  captain,  who  had  not  left  the 
bridge,  leaned  over  the  rail,  watching  the  excited  and  shout- 
ing crowd  scrambling  one  over  another,  and  clambering 
from  boat  to  boat,  which  were  bobbing  and  chafing  up 
and  down,  rubbing  sides,  and  spattering  the  water  that 
was  squeezed  and  squirted  between  them.  The  scene  was 
familiar  to  him,  for  he  was  an  old  China  cruiser,  only  re- 
newing his  acquaintance.  At  length,  turning  to  me,  he 
commented,  "There  you  have  the  regular  China  smell; 
you  will  find  it  wherever  you  go."  And  I  did;  but  how 
describe  it — and  why  should  I? 

At  this  time  the  Japanese  had  conceded  two  more  treaty 
ports,  in  the  Inland  Sea — Osaka  and  Kobe;  and  as  the  for- 
mal opening  was  fixed  for  the  beginning  of  the  new  year 
— 1868 — most  of  the  squadron  had  already  gone  north. 
We  therefore  found  in  Hong  Kong  only  a  single  vessel,  the 
Monocacy,  an  iron  double-ender;  a  class  which  had  its 
beginning  in  the  then  recent  War  of  Secession,  and  dis- 
appeared with  it.  Some  six  weeks  before  she  had  passed 
through  a  furious  typhoon,  running  into  the  centre  of  it;  or, 
more  accurately,  I  fancy,  having  the  centre  pass  over  her. 

239 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

Perhaps  it  may  not  be  a  matter  of  knowledge  to  all  readers 
that  for  these  hurricanes,  as  for  many  other  h(\avy  gales, 
the  term  cyclone  is  exact;  that  the  wind  does  actually 
blow  round  a  circle,  but  one  of  so  great  circumference  that 
at  each  several  point  it  seems  to  follow  a  straight  line. 
Vessels  on  opposite  sides  of  the  circle  thus  have  the  wind 
from  opposite  directions.  In  the  centre  there  is  usually 
a  calm  space,  of  diameter  proportioned  to  that  of  the  gen- 
eral disturbance.  As  the  whole  storm  body  has  an  on- 
ward movement,  this  centre,  calm  or  gusty  as  to  wind,  but 
confused  and  tumultuous  as  to  wave,  progresses  with  it; 
and  a  vessel  which  is  so  unhappy  as  to  be  overtaken  finds 
herself,  after  a  period  of  helpless  tossing  by  conflicting 
seas,  again  subjected  to  the  full  fury  of  the  wind,  but  from 
the  quarter  opposite  to  that  which  has  already  tried  her. 
Although  at  our  arrival  the  Monocacy  had  been  fully  re- 
paired, and  was  about  to  follow  the  other  vessels,  her  offi- 
cers naturally  were  still  full  of  an  adventure  so  exceptional 
to  personal  experience.  She  owed  her  safety  mainly  to  the 
strength  and  rigidity  of  her  iron  hull.  A  wooden  vessel  of 
like  construction  would  probably  have  gone  to  pieces;  for 
the  wooden  double-cnders  had  been  run  up  in  a  hurry  for  a 
war  emergency,  and  were  often  weak.  As  the  capable  com- 
mander of  one  of  them  said  to  me,  they  were  "stuck  to- 
gether with  spit."  Battened  down  close,  with  the  seas 
coming  in  deluges  over  both  bows  and  both  quarters  at  the 
same  time,  the  Monocacy  went  through  it  like  a  tight- 
corked  bottle,  and  came  out,  not  all  right,  to  be  sure,  but 
very  much  alive;  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  she  was  carried 
on  the  Navy  Register  for  thirty  years  more.  She  never 
returned  home,  however,  but  remained  on  the  China 
station,  for  which  she  was  best  suited  by  her  particular 
qualities. 

By  the  time  the  Iroquois,  in  turn,  was  ready  to  leave  Hong 
Kong — November  26th — the  northeast  monsoon  had  made 

231 


FROM  SAIL  TO  8TEMI 

in  full  force,  and  dolorous  were  the  prognostications  to  us 
by  those  who  had  had  experience  of  butting  against  it  in 
a  northward  passage.  It  is  less  severe  than  the  "brave" 
west  winds  of  our  own  North  Atlantic;  but  to  a  small  vessel 
like  the  Iroquois,  with  the  machinery  of  the  day,  the  mon- 
soon, blowing  at  times  a  three-quarters  gale,  was  not  an 
adversary  to  be  disregarded,  for  all  the  sunshiny,  bluff 
heartiness  with  which  it  buffeted  you,  as  a  big  boy  at 
school  breezily  tlirashes  a  smaller  for  his  own  good.  To- 
day we  have  to  stop  and  think,  to  realize  the  immense 
progress  in  size  and  power  of  steam-vessels  since  1867. 
We  forget  facts,  and  judge  doings  of  the  past  by  standards 
of  the  present;  an  historical  injustice  in  other  realms  than 
that  of  morals. 

In  our  passage  north,  however,  we  escaped  the  predicted 
disagreeables  by  keeping  close  to  the  coast;  for  currents, 
whether  of  atmosphere  or  of  water,  for  some  reason  slacken 
in  force  as  they  sweep  along  the  land.  I  do  not  know 
why,  unless  it  be  the  result  of  friction  retarding  their  flow; 
the  fact,  however,  remains.  So,  dodging  the  full  brunt  of 
the  wind,  we  sneaked  along  inshore,  having  rarely  more 
than  a  single-reef  topsail  breeze,  and  with  little  jar  save 
the  steady  thud  of  the  machinery.  A  constant  view  of 
the  land  was  another  advantage  due  to  this  mode  of  pro- 
gression, and  it  was  the  more  complete  because  we  com- 
monly anchored  at  night.  Thus,  as  we  slowly  dragged 
north,  a  continuous  panorama  was  unrolled  before  our 
eyes. 

Another  very  entertaining  feature  was  the  flight  of  fish- 
ing-boats, which  at  each  daybreak  put  out  to  sea,  literally 
in  flocks;  so  numerous  were  they.  As  I  was  every  morn- 
ing on  deck  at  that  hour,  attending  the  weighing  of  the 
anchor,  the  sight  became  fixed  upon  my  memory.  The 
wind  being  on  their  beam,  and  so  fresh,  they  came  lurch- 
ing along  in  merry  mood,  leaping  hvelily  from  wave  to  wave, 

232 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

dasliing  the  water  to  either  hand.  Besides  the  poetry  of  mo- 
tion, their  peculiar  shape,  their  hulls  with  the  natural  color 
of  the  wood, — because  oiled,  not  painted, — their  bamboo 
mat  sails,  which  set  so  much  flatter  than  our  own  canvas, 
were  all  picturesque,  as  well  as  striking  by  novelty.  Most 
characteristic,  and  strangely  diversified  in  effect,  as  they 
bowled  saucily  by,  were  the  successive  impressions  pro- 
duced by  the  custom  of  painting  an  eye  on  each  side  of  the 
bow.  An  alleged  proverb  is  in  pigeon  English :  "  No  have 
eye,  how  can  see?  no  can  see,  how  can  sail?"  When  head- 
ing towards  you,  they  really  convey  to  an  imagination  of 
ordinary  quickness  the  semblance  of  some  unknown  sea 
monster,  full  of  life  and  purpose.  Now  you  see  a  fellow 
charging  along,  having  the  vicious  look  of  a  horse  with  his 
ears  back.  Anon  comes  another,  the  quiet  gaze  of  which 
suggests  some  meditative  fish,  lazily  gliding,  enjoying  a 
siesta,  with  his  belly  full  of  good  dinner.  Yet  a  third  has 
a  hungry  air,  as  though  his  meal  was  yet  to  seek,  and  in 
passing  turns  on  you  a  voracious  side  glance,  measuring 
your  availability  as  a  morsel,  should  nothing  better  offer. 
Tlie  boat  life  of  China,  indeed,  is  a  study  by  itself.  In  very 
many  cases  in  the  ports  and  rivers,  the  family  is  born,  bred, 
fed,  and  lives  in  the  boat.  In  moving  her,  the  man  and 
his  wife  and  two  of  the  elder  children  will  handle  the  oars  ; 
while  a  little  one,  sometimes  hardly  more  than  an  infant, 
will  take  the  helm,  to  which  his  tiny  strength  and  cunning 
skill  are  sufficient.  Going  off  late  one  night  from  Hong 
Kong  to  the  ship,  and  having  to  lean  over  in  the  stern  to 
get  hold  of  the  tiller-lines,  I  came  near  putting  my  whole 
weight  on  the  baby,  lying  unperceived  in  the  bottom. 
Those  sedate  Chinese  children,  with  their  tiny  pigtails  and 
their  old  faces,  but  who  at  times  assert  their  common  hu- 
manity by  a  wholesome  cry ;  how  funny  two  of  them  looked, 
lying  in  the  street  fighting,  fury  in  each  face,  teeth  set  and 
showing,  nostrils  distended  with  rage,  and  a  hand  of  each 

233 


FROM  RATI.  TO   STEAM 

gripping  fast  the  other's  pigtail,  which  he  seemed  to  be 
trying  to  drag  out  by  the  roots;  at  the  moment  not  "Celes- 
tials," unless  after  the  pattern  of  Virgil's  Juno. 

The  habit  of  whole  families  living  together  in  a  boat, 
though  sufficiently  known  to  me,  was  on  one  occasion  real- 
ized in  a  manner  at  once  mortifying  and  ludicrous.  The 
eagerness  for  trade  among  the  bumboatmen,  actual  and 
expectant,  sometimes  becomes  a  nuisance;  in  their  efforts 
to  be  first  they  form  a  mob  quite  beyond  the  control  of 
the  ship,  the  gangways  and  channels  of  which  they  none 
the  less  surromid  and  grab,  deaf  to  all  remonstrance  by 
words,  however  forcible.  This  is  particularly  the  case  the 
first  day  of  arrival,  before  the  privilege  has  been  determined. 
In  one  such  instance  my  patience  gave  way;  the  din  along- 
side was  indescribable,  the  confusion  worse  confounded, 
and  they  could  not  be  moved.  There  was  working  at  the 
moment  one  of  those  small  movable  hand -pumps  signifi- 
cantly named  "Handy  Billy,"  and  I  told  the  nozzle-man 
to  turn  the  stream  on  the  crowd.  Of  course,  nothing  could 
please  a  seaman  more ;  it  was  done  with  a  will,  and  the  full 
force  of  impact  struck  between  the  shoulders  of  a  portly 
individual  standing  up,  back  towards  the  ship.  A  prompt 
upset  revealed  that  it  was  a  middle-aged  woman,  a  fact 
which  the  pump-man  had  not  taken  in,  owing  to  the  mis- 
leading similarity  of  dress  between  the  two  sexes.  I  was 
disconcerted  and  ashamed,  but  the  remedy  was  for  the 
moment  complete ;  the  boats  scattered  as  if  dynamite  had 
burst  among  them.  The  mere  showing  of  the  nozzle  was 
thereafter  enough. 

The  Iroquois  was  about  a  week  in  the  monsoon,  a  day 
or  so  having  been  expended  in  running  into  Fuchau  for 
coal.  She  certainly  seemed  to  have  lost  the  speed  credited 
to  her  in  former  cruises;  the  cause  for  which  was  plausibly 
thought  to  be  the  decreased  rigidity  of  her  hull,  owing  to 
the  wear  and  tear  of  service.     In  the  days  of  sailing-ships 

234 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

there  was  a  common  professional  belief  that  lessened  stiff- 
ness of  frame  tended  to  speed;  and  a  chased  vessel  some- 
times resorted  to  sawing  her  beams  and  loosening  her  fast- 
enings to  increase  the  desired  play.  But,  however  this  may 
have  been,  the  thrust  of  the  screw  tells  best  when  none  of 
its  effect  is  lost  in  a  structural  yielding  of  the  ship's  body; 
when  this  responds  as  a  solid  whole  to  the  forward  impulse. 
In  this  respect  the  Iroquois  was  already  out  of  date,  though 
otherwise  serviceable. 

On  the  eleventh  day,  December  7th,  we  reached  Naga- 
saki, whence  we  sailed  again  about  the  middle  of  the 
month  for  Hiogo,  or  Kobe,  where  the  squadrons  of  the 
various  nations  were  to  assemble  for  the  formal  opening. 
With  abundant  time  before  us,  we  passed  in  leisurely  fash- 
ion through  the  Inland  Sea,  at  the  eastern  end  of  which 
lay  the  newly  opened  ports.  Anchoring  each  night,  we 
missed  no  part  of  the  scenery,  with  its  alternating  breadths 
and  narrows,  its  lofty  slopes,  terraced  here  and  wooded 
there,  the  occasional  smiling  lowlands,  the  varied  and  vivid 
greens,  contrasting  with  the  neutral  tints  of  the  Japanese 
dwellings;  all  which  combine  to  the  general  effect  of  that 
singular  and  entrancing  sheet  of  water.  The  Japanese 
junks  added  their  contribution  to  the  novelty  with  their 
single  huge  bellying  sail,  adapted  apparently  only  to  sail- 
ing with  a  free  wind,  the  fairer  the  better. 

Hiogo  and  Kobe,  as  I  understood,  are  separate  names  of 
two  continuous  villages ;  Kobe,  the  more  eastern,  being  the 
destined  port  of  entry.  They  are  separated  by  a  water- 
course, broad  but  not  deep,  often  dry,  the  which  is  to 
m.emory  dear;  for  following  along  it  one  day,  and  so  up 
the  hills,  I  struck  at  length,  well  within  the  outer  range, 
an  exquisite  Japanese  valley,  profound,  semicircular,  and 
terraced,  closed  at  either  end  by  a  passage  so  narrow  that 
it  might  well  be  called  a  defile.  The  suddenness  with  which 
it  burst  upon  me,  hke  the  South  Sea  upon  Balboa,  the  feel- 

235 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

ing  of  remoteness  inspired  by  its  isolation,  and  its  own 
intrinsic  beauty,  struck  home  so  forcible  a  prepossession 
that  it  remained  a  favorite  resort,  to  which  I  guided  sev- 
eral others;  for  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  up  to  our 
coming  the  hill  tracks  of  Kobe  knew  not  the  feet  of  for- 
eigners, and  there  was  still  such  a  thing  as  first  discovery. 
Some  time  afterwards,  when  I  had  long  returned  home,  a 
naval  officer  told  me  that  the  place  was  known  to  him 
and  others  as  Mahan's  Valley;  but  I  have  never  heard  it 
has  been  so  entered  on  the  maps.  Shall  I  describe  it? 
Certainly  not.  When  description  is  tried,  one  soon  realizes 
that  the  general  sameness  of  details  is  so  great  as  quite 
to  defy  convincing  presentation,  in  words,  of  the  particu- 
lar combination  which  constitutes  any  one  bit  of  scenery. 
Scenery  in  this  resembles  a  collection  of  Chinese  puzzles, 
where  a  few  elementary  pieces,  through  their  varied  assem- 
blings, yield  most  diverging  forms.  Given  a  river,  some 
mountains,  a  few  clumps  of  trees,  a  little  sloping  field  under 
cultivation,  an  expanse  of  marsh — in  Japan  the  universal 
terrace — and  with  them  many  picturesque  effects  can  be 
produced ;  but  description,  mental  reaUzation,  being  a  mat- 
ter of  analysis  and  synthesis,  is  a  process  which  each  man 
performs  for  himself.  The  writer  does  his  part,  and  thinks 
he  has  done  well.  Could  he  see  the  picture  which  his  words 
call  up  in  the  mind  of  another,  the  particular  Chinese  figure 
put  together  out  of  the  author's  data,  he  might  be  less 
satisfied.  And  should  the  reader  rashly  become  the  visitor, 
he  will  have  to  meet  Wordsworth's  disappointment.  ''  And 
is  this — Yarrow?  this  the  scene?"  "Although  'tis  fair, 
'twill  be  another  Yarrow."  Should  any  reader  of  mine  go 
hereafter  to  Kobe,  and  so  wish,  let  him  see  for  himself;  he 
shall  go  with  no  preconceptions  from  me.  If  the  march 
of  improvement  has  changed  that  valley,  Japan  deserves 
to  be  beaten  in  her  next  war. 
As  I  recall  attending  a  Christmas  service  on  board  the 

236 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

British  flag-ship  Rodney  at  Kobe,  we  must  have  anchored 
there  a  few  days  before  that  fixed  for  the  formal  opening; 
but,  unless  my  memory  much  deceive  me,  visiting  the 
shore  after  the  usual  fashion  was  permitted  without  await- 
ing the  New  Year  ceremony.  At  this  time  Kobe  and  Hiogo 
were  in  high  festival;  and  that,  combined  with  the  fact  that 
the  inhabitants  had  as  yet  seen  few  foreigners,  gave  un- 
usual animation  to  the  conditions.  We  were  followed  by 
curious  crowds,  to  whom  we  were  newer  even  than  they  to 
us;  for  the  latest  comers  among  us  had  seen  Nagasaki,  but 
strangers  from  other  lands  had  been  rare  to  these  villagers. 
In  explanation  of  the  rejoicings,  it  was  told  us  that  slips 
of  paper,  with  the  names  of  Japanese  deities  written  on 
them,  had  recently  fallen  in  the  streets,  supposed  by  the 
people  to  come  from  the  skies ;  and  that  different  men  had 
found  in  their  houses  pieces  of  gold,  also  bearing  the  name 
of  some  divinity.  These  tokens  were  assmned  to  indicate 
great  good  luck  about  to  light  upon  those  places  or  houses. 
By  an  easy  association  of  ideas,  the  approaching  opening 
of  the  port  might  seem  to  have  some  connection  with  the 
expected  benefits,  and  inclines  one  to  suspect  human  in- 
strumentality in  creating  impressions  which  might  counter- 
act the  long-nurtured  jealousy  of  foreign  intrusion.  What- 
ever the  truth,  the  external  rollicking  celebrations  were  as 
apparent  as  was  the  general  smiling  courtesy  so  noticeable 
in  the  Japanese,  and  which  in  this  case  was  common  to 
both  the  throng  in  ordinary  dress  and  the  masqueraders. 
Men  and  women,  young  and  old,  in  gay,  fantastic  costumes, 
faces  so  heavily  painted  as  to  have  the  effect  of  masks,  were 
running  about  in  groups,  sometimes  as  many  as  forty  or 
fifty  together,  dancing  and  mmmiiing.  They  addressed  us 
frequently  with  a  phrase,  the  frequent  repetition  of  which 
impressed  it  upon  our  ears,  but,  in  our  ignorance  of  the 
language,  not  upon  our  understandings.  At  times,  if  one 
laughed,  liberties  were  taken.  These  the  customs  of  the 
i6  237 


FROM   SAIL  TO  STEAM 

occasion  probably  justified,  as  in  the  carnivals  of  other 
peoples,  which  this  somewhat  resembled;  but  there  was 
no  general  concourse,  as  in  the  Corso  at  Rome,  which  I 
afterwards  saw  —  merely  numerous  detachments  moving 
with  no  apparent  relation  to  one  another.  Once  only  a 
companion  and  myself  met  several  married  women,  known 
as  such  by  their  blackened  teeth,  who  bore  long  poles  with 
feathers  at  one  end,  much  like  dusters,  with  which  they 
tapped  us  on  the  head.  These  seemed  quite  beside  them- 
selves with  excitement,  but  all  in  the  best  of  humor. 

Viewed  from  the  distance,  the  general  effect  was  very 
pretty,  like  a  stage  scene.  The  long  main  street,  forming 
part  of  the  continuous  imperial  highway  known  as  the 
Tokaido,  was  jammed  with  people;  the  sober,  neutral 
tints  of  the  majority  in  customary  dress  lighted  up,  here 
and  there,  by  the  brilliant,  diversified  colors  of  the  perform- 
ers, as  showy  uniforms  do  an  assembly  of  civilians.  The 
weather,  too,  was  for  the  most  part  in  keeping.  The  mon- 
soon does  not  reach  so  far  north,  yet  the  days  were  Hke  it; 
usually  sunny,  and  the  air  exhilarating,  with  frequent  frost 
at  dawn,  but  towards  noon  genial.  Such  we  found  the 
prevalent  character  of  the  winter  in  that  part  of  Japan, 
though  with  occasional  spells  of  rain  and  high  winds, 
amounting  to  gales  of  two  or  three  days'  duration. 

Unhappily,  these  cheerful  beginnings  were  the  precur- 
sors of  some  very  sad  events;  indeed,  tragedies.  A  week 
after  the  New  Year  ceremonies  at  Kobe,  the  American 
squadron  moved  over  some  twelve  miles  to  Osaka,  the 
other  opened  port,  at  which  our  minister  then  was.  Un- 
like Kobe,  where  the  water  permits  vessels  to  lie  close  to 
the  beach,  Osaka  is  up  a  river,  at  the  mouth  of  which  is  a 
bar;  and,  owing  to  the  shoalness  of  the  adjacent  sea,  the 
anchorage  is  a  mile  or  two  out.  From  it  the  town  cannot 
be  seen.  The  morning  after  our  arrival,  a  Thursday,  it 
came  on  to  blow  very  hard  from  the  westward,  dead  pn 

238 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

shore,  raising  a  big  soa  which  prevented  boats  crossing  the 
bar.  The  gale  continued  over  Friday,  the  wind  moderat- 
ing by  the  following  daylight.  The  swell  requires  more 
time  to  subside;  but  it  was  now  Saturday,  the  next  day 
would  be  Sunday,  and  the  admiral,  I  think,  was  a  religious 
man,  unwiUing  to  infringe  upon  the  observance  of  the  day, 
for  himself  or  for  the  men.  His  service  on  the  station  was 
up,  and,  indeed,  his  time  for  retirement,  at  sixty-two,  had 
arrived;  there  remained  for  him  only  to  go  home,  and  for 
this  he  was  anxious  to  get  south.  Altogether,  he  decided 
to  wait  no  longer,  and  ordered  his  barge  manned.  Danger 
from  the  attempt  was  apprehended  on  board  the  flag-ship 
by  some,  but  the  admiral  was  not  one  of  those  who  en- 
courage suggestions.  Her  boatswain  had  once  cruised  in 
whalers,  which  carry  to  perfection  the  art  of  managing 
boats  in  a  heavy  sea,  and  of  steering  with  an  oar,  the  safest 
precaution  if  a  bar  must  be  crossed;  and  he  hung  round,  in 
evidence,  hoping  that  he  might  be  ordered  to  steer  her,  but 
she  shoved  off  as  for  an  ordinary  trip.  The  mishap  which 
followed,  however,  was  not  that  most  feared.  Just  before 
she  entered  the  breakers,  the  flag-lieutenant,  conscious  of 
the  risk,  was  reported  to  have  said  to  the  admiral,  "If 
you  intend  to  go  in  before  the  sea,  as  we  are  now  running, 
we  had  better  take  off  our  swords;"  and  he  himself  did  so, 
anticipating  an  accident.  As  she  swept  along,  her  bow 
struck  bottom.  Her  way  being  thus  stopped  for  an  in- 
stant, the  sea  threw  her  stern  round;  she  came  broadside 
to  and  upset.  Of  the  fifteen  persons  hurled  thus  into  the 
wintry  waves,  only  three  escaped  with  their  lives.  Both 
the  officers  perished. 

The  gale  continued  to  abate,  and  the  bodies  being  all 
soon  recovered,  the  squadron  returned  to  Kobe  to  bury  its 
dead.  The  funeral  ceremonies  were  unusually  impressive  in 
themselves,  as  well  as  because  of  the  sorrowful  catastrophe 
which  so  mournfully  signalized  the  entry  of  the  foreigner 

239 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

into  his  new  privilege.  The  day  was  fair  and  cloudless, 
the  water  perfectly  smooth;  neither  rain  nor  Avave  marred 
the  naval  display,  as  they  frequently  do.  Thirty -two 
boats,  American  and  British,  many  of  them  very  large, 
took  part  in  the  procession  from  the  ships  to  the  beach. 
The  ensigns  of  all  the  war-vessels  in  port,  American  and 
other,  were  at  half-mast,  as  was  the  admiral's  square  blue 
flag  at  the  mizzen,  which  is  never  lowered  while  he  re- 
mains on  duty  on  board.  As  the  movement  began,  a  first 
gun  was  fired  from  the  Hartford,  which  continued  at  min- 
ute intervals  until  she  had  completed  thirteen,  a  rear- 
admiral's  salute.  When  she  had  finished,  the  Shenandoah 
took  up  the  tale,  followed  in  turn  by  the  Oneida  and  Iro- 
quois, the  mournful  cadence  thus  covering  almost  the  whole 
period  up  to  the  customary  volleys  over  the  graves.  As 
saluting  was  the  first  lieutenant's  business,  I  had  remained 
on  board  to  attend  to  it ;  and  consequently,  from  our  close- 
ness to  the  land,  had  a  more  comprehensive  view  of  the 
pageant  than  was  possible  to  a  participant.  Our  ships  were 
nearly  stripped  of  their  crews;  the  rank  of  the  admiral  and 
the  number  of  the  sufferers,  as  well  as  the  tragic  character 
of  the  incident,  demanding  the  utmost  marks  of  reverent 
observance.  As  the  march  was  taken  up  on  shore,  the 
British  seamen  in  blue  uniforms  in  the  left  column,  the 
American  in  white  in  the  right,  to  the  nmnber  of  several 
hundred  each,  presented  a  striking  appearance;  but  more 
imposing  and  appealing,  the  central  feature  and  solemn 
exponent  of  the  occasion,  was  the  long  line  of  twelve 
coffins,  skirting  the  sandy  beach  against  a  background  of 
trees,  borne  in  single  file  on  men's  shoulders  in  ancient 
fashion,  each  covered  with  the  national  colors.  The  tokens 
of  mourning,  so  far  as  ships'  ensigns  were  concerned,  con- 
tinued till  sunset,  when  the  ceremonial  procedure  was 
closed  by  a  simple  form,  impressive  in  its  significance 
and  appropriateness.     Following  the  motions  of  the  Amer- 

240 


CHINA  AND   JAPAN 

ican  flag-ship,  the  chief  mourner,  the  flags  of  all  the  ves- 
sels, as  by  one  impulse,  were  rounded  up  to  the  pealvs,  as 
in  the  activities  of  every-day  life ;  that  of  the  dead  admiral 
being  at  the  same  time  mast-headed  to  its  usual  place.  By 
this  mute  gesture,  vessels  and  crews  stood  at  attention, 
as  at  a  review,  for  their  last  tribute  to  the  departed.  The 
Hartford  then  fired  a  farewell  rear-admiral's  salute,  at  the 
thirteenth  and  final  gun  of  which  his  flag  came  down  inch 
by  inch,  in  measured  dignity,  to  be  raised  no  more;  all 
others  descending  with  it  in  silent  homage. 

Admiral  Henry  Bell,  who  thus  sadly  ended  his  career 
when  on  the  verge  of  an  honored  retirement,  was  in  a  way 
an  old  acquaintance  of  mine.  It  was  he  who  had  refused 
me  a  transfer  to  the  Monongahelo,  during  the  war;  and  ho 
and  my  father,  having  been  comrades  when  cadets  at  the 
Military  Academy  in  the  early  twenties  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, had  retained  a  certain  interest  in  each  other,  shown 
by  mutual  inquiries  through  me.  Bell  had  begun  life  in  the 
army,  subsequently  quitting  it  for  the  navy  for  reasons 
which  I  do  not  know.  He  had  the  rigidity  and  precision 
of  a  soldier's  carriage,  to  a  degree  unusual  to  a  naval  officer 
of  his  period.  This  may  have  been  due  partly  to  early 
training,  but  still  more,  I  think,  in  his  case,  was  an  outcome 
and  evidence  of  personal  character;  for,  though  kindly  and 
just,  he  was  essentially  a  martinet.  He  had  been  further 
presented  to  me,  colloquially,  by  my  old  friend  the  boat- 
swain of  the  Congress,  some  of  whose  shrewd  comments  I 
have  before  quoted,  and  who  had  sailed  with  him  as  a 
captain.  "Oh!  what  a  proud  man  he  was!"  he  would  say. 
"He  would  walk  up  and  down  the  poop,  looking  down  on 
all  around,  thus" — and  the  boatswain  would  compress  his 
lips,  throw  back  his  shoulders,  and  inflate  his  chest;  the 
walk  he  could  not  imitate  because  he  had  a  stiff  knee. 
Bell's  pride,  however  it  may  have  seemed,  was  rather  pro- 
fessional than  personal.     He  was  thorough  and  exact,  with 

241 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

high  standards  and  too  httle  give.  An  officer  entirely  re- 
spectable and  respected,  though  not  brilliant. 

Upon  the  funeral  of  our  wrecked  seamen  followed  a  dis- 
persion of  the  squadron.  The  Hartford  and  Shenandoah, 
both  bound  home,  departed,  leaving  the  Oneida  and  Iro- 
quois to  ''hold  the  fort."  Conditions  soon  became  such 
that  it  seemed  probable  we  might  have  to  carry  out  that 
precept  somewhat  literally.  This  was  the  period  of  the 
overthrow  of  the  Tycoon's  power  by  the  revolt  of  the  great 
nobles,  among  whom  the  most  conspicuous  in  leadership 
were  Chiosiu  and  Satsuma;  names  then  as  much  in  our 
mouths  as  those  of  Grant,  Sherman,  and  Lee  had  been 
three  years  before.  Hostilities  were  active  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Osaka  and  Kobe,  the  Tycoon  being  steadily 
worsted.  So  far  as  I  give  any  account,  depending  upon 
some  old  letters  of  that  date,  it  will  be  understood  to  pre- 
sent, not  sifted  historical  truth,  but  the  current  stories 
of  the  day,  which  to  me  have  always  seemed  to  possess  a 
real  value  of  their  own,  irrespective  of  their  exactness. 
For  example,  the  reports  repeated  by  Nelson  at  Leghorn 
of  the  happenings  during  Bonaparte's  campaign  of  1796  in 
upper  Italy,  though  often  inaccurate,  represent  correctly 
an  important  element  of  a  situation.  Misapprehension, 
when  it  exists,  is  a  factor  in  any  circumstances,  sometimes 
of  powerful  influence.  It  is  part  of  the  data  governing  the 
men  of  the  time. 

While  a  certain  number  of  foreigners,  availing  them- 
selves of  the  treaty,  were  settling  for  business  in  Kobe,  a 
large  proportion  had  gone  to  Osaka,  a  more  important  com- 
mercial centre,  of  several  hundred  thousand  inhabitants. 
Its  superior  political  consideration  at  the  moment  was 
evidenced  by  the  diplomats  establishing  themselves  there, 
our  own  minister  among  them.  The  defeat  of  the  Tycoon's 
forces  in  the  field  led  to  their  abandoning  the  place,  carry- 
ing off  also  the  guards  of  the  legations;  a  kind  of  protection 

242 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

absolutely  required  in  those  days,  when  the  resentment 
against  foreign  intrusion  was  still  very  strong,  (^specially 
among  the  warrior  class.  It  was,  after  all,  only  fourteen 
years  since  Perry  had  extorted  a  treaty  from  a  none  too 
willing  government.  The  fleeing  Tycoon  wished  to  get 
away  from  Osaka  by  a  vessel  belonging  to  him;  but  in  the 
event  of  her  not  being  off  the  bar — as  proved  to  be  the 
case — a  party  of  two-sworded  men,  of  whom  he  was  ru- 
mored to  be  one,  brought  a  letter  from  our  minister  ask- 
ing any  American  vessel  present  to  give  them  momentary 
shelter.  It  is  customary  for  refugees  purely  political  to 
be  thus  received  by  ships  of  war,  which  afford  the  pro- 
tection their  nation  grants  to  such  persons  who  reach  its 
home  territory;  of  which  the  ships  are  a  privileged  exten- 
sion. 

The  minister's  note  spoke  of  the  bearers  simply  as  offi- 
cers of  the  very  highest  rank.  About  three  in  the  morning 
they  came  alongside  of  the  Iroquois,  their  boatmen  making 
a  tremendous  racket,  awaking  everybody,  the  captain  get- 
ting up  to  receive  them.  When  I  came  on  deck  before 
breakfast  the  poor  fellows  presented  a  moving  picture  of 
himian  misery,  and  certainly  were  under  a  heavy  accumu- 
lation of  misfortunes:  a  lost  battle,  and  probably  a  lost 
cause;  flying  for  hfe,  and  now  on  an  element  totally  new; 
surrounded  by  those  who  could  not  speak  their  language; 
hmigry,  cold,  wet,  and  shivering — a  combination  of  major 
and  minor  evils  under  which  who  would  not  be  depressed  ? 
At  half-past  seven  they  left  us,  after  a  brief  stay  of  four 
hours;  and  there  was  much  trouble  in  getting  so  many  un- 
practised landsmen  into  the  boats,  which  were  rolling  and 
thumping  alongside  in  the  most  thoughtless  manner,  there 
being  considerable  sea.  I  do  not  remember  whether  the 
ladders  were  shipped,  or  whether  they  had  to  descend  by 
the  cleats;  but  either  presented  difficulties  to  a  man  clad  in 
the  loose  Japanese  garb  of  the  day,  having  withal  two 

243 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

swords,  one  very  long,  and  a  revolver.  What  with  en- 
cumbrances and  awkwardness,  our  seamen  had  to  help 
them  down  like  children.  Poor  old  General  Scott  shudder- 
ing in  a  Key  West  norther,  and  these  unhappy  samurai, 
remain  coupled  in  my  mind;  pendant  pictures  of  valor  in 
physical  extremes,  hke  Ccesar  in  the  Tiber,  For  were  not 
our  shaking  morning  visitors  of  the  same  blood,  the  same 
tradition,  and  only  a  generation  in  time  removed  from,  the 
soldiers  and  seamen  of  the  late  war?  whose  "fitness  to 
win,"  to  use  Mr.  Jane's  phrase,  was  then  established. 

Between  the  departure  of  the  Tycoon's  forces  and  the 
arrival  of  the  insurgent  daimios,  the  native  mob  took  pos- 
session of  Osaka,  becoming  insolent  and  aggressive;  inso- 
much that  a  party  of  French  seamen,  being  stoned,  turned 
and  fired,  killing  several.  The  disposition  and  purposes 
of  the  daimios  being  uncertain,  the  diplomatic  bodies 
thought  best  to  remove  to  Kobe,  a  step  which  caused  the 
exodus  of  all  the  new  foreign  population.  Chiosiu  and 
Satsuma,  the  leaders  in  what  was  still  a  rebellion,  had  not 
yet  arrived,  nor  was  there  any  assurance  felt  as  to  their 
attitude  towards  the  foreign  question.  The  narrow  quar- 
ters of  the  Iroquois  were  crowded  with  refugees  and  fugitive 
samurai ;  while  from  our  anchorage  huge  columns  of  smoke 
were  seen  rising  from  the  city,  which  rumor,  of  course,  mag- 
nified into  a  total  destruction.  Afterwards  we  were  told 
that  the  Tycoon  had  burned  Satsuma's  palace  in  the  place, 
in  retaliation  for  which  the  enemy  on  entry  had  burned 
his.  The  Japanese  in  their  haste  left  behind  them  their 
wounded,  and  one  of  the  Iroquois'  officers  brought  off  a 
story  of  the  Italian  minister,  who,  indignant  at  this  de- 
sertion, went  up  to  a  Japanese  official,  shouting  excitedly, 
"I  will  have  you  to  understand  it  is  not  the  custom  in 
Europe  thus  to  abandon  our  wounded."  This  he  said  in 
English,  apparently  thinking  that  a  Japanese  would  be 
more  likely  to  understand  it  than  Italian. 

244 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

Tho  embarkation  was  an  affair  of  a  short  time,  and  the 
Iroquois  then  went  to  Kobe,  where  we  discharged  our  load 
of  passengers.  The  diplomats  had  decided  that  there,  un- 
der the  guns  of  the  shipping,  they  would  establish  their 
embassies  and  remain;  reasoning  justly  enough  that,  if 
foreigners  suffered  themselves  to  be  forced  out  of  both  the 
ports  conceded  by  treaty,  there  would  be  trouble  every- 
where, in  the  old  as  well  as  the  new.  So  the  flags  were  soon 
flying  gayly,  and  all  seemed  quiet;  but  for  the  maintenance 
of  order  there  was  no  assurance  while  the  interregnum  last- 
ed, the  Tycoon's  authorities  having  gone,  and  Chiosiu  or 
Satsuma  still  delaying.  Officers  on  shore  were  therefore 
ordered  to  go  armed.  On  February  4,  1868,  two  days 
after  our  return,  a  party  of  samurai,  some  five  hundred 
strong,  belonging  to  the  Prince  of  Bizen,  marched  through 
the  town  by  the  Tokaido,  As  they  passed  the  foreign  con- 
cession, wliich  bordered  this  high-road,  they  turned  and 
fired  upon  the  Europeans.  The  noise  was  heard  on  board 
the  ships,  and  the  commotion  on  shore  was  evident,  people 
fleeing  in  every  direction.  The  Japanese  troops  themselves 
broke  and  ran  along  the  highway,  abandoning  luggage, 
arms,  and  field-pieces.  The  American  and  British  ships  of 
war,  with  a  French  corvette,  manned  and  armed  boats, 
landing  in  hot  haste  five  or  six  hundred  men,  who  pursued 
for  some  distance,  but  failed  to  overtake  the  assailants. 
At  the  same  time  the  vessels  sprang  their  batteries  to  bear 
on  the  town;  a  move  which  doubtless  looked  imposing 
enough,  though  we  could  scarcely  have  dared  to  fire  on  the 
mixed  multitude,  even  had  the  trouble  continued. 

When  our  seamen  returned,  a  conference  was  held,  where- 
in it  was  determined,  as  a  joint  international  measure,  to 
hold  the  concession  in  force;  and  as  a  further  means  of 
protection  to  close  the  Tokaido,  which  was  done  by  occupy- 
ing the  angles  of  a  short  elbow,  of  two  hundred  yards,  made 
by  it  in  traversing  the  town.    This  step,  while  justifiable 

245 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

from  the  point  of  view  of  safety  for  the  residents,  was  par- 
ticularly galling  to  Japanese  high-class  feeling;  for  the  use 
of  the  imperial  road  was  associated  with  certain  privileges 
to  the  daimios,  during  whose  passing  the  common  people 
were  excluded,  or  obliged  to  kneel,  under  penalty  of  being 
cut  down  on  the  spot.  Satsuma  was  reported  to  have  re- 
monstrated; but  in  view  of  the  recent  occurrence  there 
could  be  no  reply  to  the  foreign  retort,  "  You  must  secure 
our  people."  The  custom-house,  within  the  concession, 
was  garrisoned,  making  a  fortification  very  tenable  against 
any  enemy  likely  to  be  brought  against  it;  while  round  it 
was  thrown  up  a  light  earth-work,  to  which  the  seamen  and 
marines  dispersed  in  the  concession  could  retire  in  case  of 
need.  But  behind  all,  invulnerable,  stood  the  ships,  de- 
terred from  aggression  only  by  fear  for  their  own  people, 
which  would  cease  to  operate  if  these  had  to  be  withdrawn. 
The  action  of  this  body  of  samurai  was  probably  unpre- 
meditated, unless  possibly  in  the  mind  of  the  particular 
officer  in  charge,  who  afterwards  paid  with  his  hfe  for  the 
misconduct  of  his  men.  While  the  state  of  siege  continued 
a  complete  stop  was  put  to  our  horseback  excursions  in 
the  comitry,  a  deprivation  the  more  felt  because  coinciding 
with  an  unusually  fine  spell  of  weather;  but  in  a  few  days 
an  envoy  arrived  from  the  insurgent  daimios,  with  whom 
a  settlement  was  speedily  reached.  Chiosiu  and  Satsmna 
had  by  this  time  succeeded  in  estabhshing  themselves  as 
the  real  representatives  of  the  Mikado,  an  authority  in 
virtue  of  which  alone  the  Tycoon  had  ruled ;  the  true  head- 
ship of  the  Mikado  being  admitted  by  all.  They  under- 
took that  foreigners  should  be  adequately  protected,  and 
that  the  officer  responsible  for  the  late  outrage  should  be 
punished  with  death.  By  the  20th  of  February  Kobe  was 
full  of  Chiosiu  and  Satsuma  samurai,  who  were  as  courte- 
ously civil  as  those  of  the  Tycoon  had  been;  and  after  a 
conference  with  the  special  envoy  of  the  Mikado  the  min- 

246 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

isters  returned  to  Osaka.  We,  too,  resumed  our  country 
rides,  but  still  weighted  with  a  huge  navy  revolver. 

No  doubt  on  any  hand  was  felt  of  the  sincere  pur- 
pose of  the  new  government  to  fulfil  its  pledges;  but  their 
troops  were  still  ill-organized,  and  it  was  impossible  to  rest 
assured  that  they  might  not  here  and  there  break  bounds, 
as  at  Kobe.  We  were  encomitering  the  accustomed  un- 
certainties of  a  period  of  revolutionary  transition,  intensi- 
fied by  prejudices  engendered  through  centuries  of  national 
isolation,  with  all  the  narrowing  and  deepening  of  pre- 
possession which  accompanies  entire  absence  of  intercourse 
with  other  people.  At  this  very  moment,  in  March,  1868, 
the  decree  against  the  practice  of  Christianity  by  the  na- 
tives was  reissued:  "Hitherto  the  Christian  religion  has 
been  forbidden,  and  the  order  must  be  strictly  kept.  The 
corrupt  religion  is  strictly  forbidden."  Yet  I  am  persuaded 
that  already  far-seeing  Japanese  had  recognized  that  the 
past  had  drifted  away  irrevocably,  and  that  the  only  ade- 
quate means  to  meet  the  inevitable  was  to  accept  it  fully, 
without  grudging,  and  to  develop  the  nation  to  equality 
with  foreigners  in  material  resources.  But  such  anticipa- 
tion is  the  privilege  of  the  few  in  any  age  or  any  country. 

Very  soon  after  the  return  of  our  men  from  their  gar- 
rison duty,  an  outbreak  of  small-pox  on  board  the  Iro- 
quois compelled  her  being  sent  to  Yokohama,  where,  as 
an  old-established  port,  were  hospital  facilities  not  to  be 
found  in  Kobe,  though  we  had  succeeded  in  removing  the 
first  cases  to  crude  accommodations  on  shore.  The  disease 
was  then  very  prevalent  in  Japan,  where  vaccination  had 
not  yet  been  introduced;  and  to  an  unaccustomed  eye  it 
was  startling  to  note  in  the  streets  the  nmiiber  of  pitted 
faces,  a  visible  demonstration  of  what  a  European  city 
must  have  presented  before  inoculation  was  practised. 
One  of  our  crew  had  died;  and  when  we  started,  February 
25th,  we  had  on  board  some  sick.    These  were  carefully 

247 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

isolated  under  the  airy  topgallant  forecastle,  and  with  a 
good  passage  the  contagion  might  not  have  spread ;  but  the 
second  day  out  the  weather  came  on  bad  and  very  thick, 
ending  with  a  gale  so  violent  that  to  save  the  lives  of  the 
patients  they  had  to  be  taken  below,  and  then,  for  the 
safety  of  the  ship,  which  was  single-decked,  the  hatches 
had  to  be  battened  down.  Conditions  more  favorable  for 
the  spread  of  the  malady  could  not  have  been  devised,  and 
the  result  was  that  we  were  not  fairly  clear  of  the  epidemic 
for  nearly  two  months,  though  the  cases,  of  which  we  had 
fifteen  or  twenty,  were  sent  ashore  as  fast  as  they  devel- 
oped. At  that  period  few  ships  on  the  station  wholly 
escaped  this  scourge. 

It  was  after  we  left  Kobe  that  judicial  satisfaction  was 
given  for  the  attack  upon  the  foreign  concession.  My  ac- 
count depends  upon  the  reports  which  reached  us;  but  as 
the  captain  of  the  Oneida  was  one  of  the  official  witnesses, 
on  the  part  of  the  international  interests  concerned,  I  pre- 
sume that  what  we  heard  was  nearly  correct.  The  final 
scene  was  in  a  temple  near  Hiogo.  Being  of  the  class  of 
nobles,  the  condemned  had  a  privilege  of  the  peerage,  which 
insured  for  him  the  honorable  death  of  the  harakiri;^  a 
distinction  apparently  analogous  to  that  which  our  soldiers 
of  European  tradition  draw  between  hanging  and  shooting. 
Having  duly  performed  acts  of  devotion  suited  to  the  place 
and  to  the  occasion,  he  spoke,  justifying  his  action,  and  say- 
ing that,  under  similar  circumstances,  he  would  again  do 
the  same.  He  then  partly  disrobed,  assisted  by  friends, 
and  when  all  was  ready  stabbed  himself;  a  comrade  who 
had  stood  by  with  drawn  sword  at  the  same  instant  cut- 


1 1  have  here  used  the  expression  "  harakiri,"  because  so  commonly 
understood  among  English-speaking  readers.  A  Japanese  corre- 
spondent has  informed  me  that  it  is  never  used  among  the  Japanese, 
witli  tlie  signification  we  have  attached  to  it.  The  proper  word  is 
"  Seppuku." 

248 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

ting  off  his  head  with  a  single  blow.  I  was  tempted  by 
curiosity,  once  while  on  the  station,  to  attend  the  execution 
of  some  ordinary  criminals;  and  I  can  testify  to  the  deft- 
ness and  instantaneousness  with  which  one  head  fell,  in 
the  flash  of  a  sword  or  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  I  did  not 
care  to  view  the  fates  of  the  three  others  condemned,  but 
it  was  clear  that  no  judicial  death  could  be  more  speedy 
and  merciful. 

Nearly  coincident  with  this  exacted  vengeance  occurred 
an  incident  which  demonstrated  its  pohcy.  A  boat's  crew 
from  a  French  ship  of  war  had  gone  ashore  to  survey,  un- 
armed. They  were  accosted  by  a  well-dressed  man,  wear- 
ing two  swords,  who  suggested  to  them  going  up  to  a 
village  near  the  spot  where  they  were  at  work.  They  ac- 
cepted, and  were  led  by  him  into  an  ambush  where  eleven 
of  them — all  but  one — were  slain.  So  there  was  another 
great  funeral  at  Hiogo,  but  one  which  excited  emotions  far 
otherwise  mournful  than  the  simple  sorrow  and  sympathy 
elicited  by  the  Bell  disaster.  The  graveyard  of  the  place 
had,  indeed,  a  good  start.  The  assassins  in  this  case  be- 
longed to  the  troops  of  the  insurgent  daimios;  and  as  the 
French  already  favored  the  Tycoon — which  perhaps  may 
have  been  one  motive  for  the  attack — some  apprehension 
was  felt  that  they  might,  in  consequence,  espouse  his  cause 
more  actively.  Nothing  of  the  sort  happened.  I  presume 
all  the  legations,  and  their  nations,  felt  that  at  the  moment 
the  solidarity  of  the  foreign  interest  was  more  important 
to  be  secured  than  the  triumph  of  this  or  that  party.  By 
abstaining  from  intervention,  all  the  embassies  could  be 
counted  on  to  back  a  united  demand  for  reparation  for  in- 
juries to  the  citizens  of  any  one. 

With  the  arrival  of  the  Iroquois  at  Yokohama  the  notable 
incidents  of  the  cruise  for  the  most  part  came  to  an  end; 
there  following  upon  it  the  routine  life  of  a  ship  of  war, 
with  its  ups  and  downs  of  more  or  less  pleasant  ports,  good 

249 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

and  bad  weather,  and  the  daily  occupations  which  make 
and  maintain  efficiency.    Yolvohama  itself  was  then  the 
principal  and  most  flourishing  foreign  settlement  in  Japan, 
the  seat  of  the  legations,  and  with  an  agreeable  society 
sufficiently  large.     Among  other  features  we  here  found 
again  in  force  the  British  soldier;  a  battalion  of  eight  hun- 
dred being  permanently  in  garrison.    The  coimtry  about 
was  thought  secure,  though  for  distant  excursions,  requir- 
ing a  whole  day,  we  carried  revolvers;  and  I  remember 
well  the  scuttUng  away  of  several  pretty  young  women 
when  one  of  these  was  accidentally  discharged  at  a  way- 
side tea-house.     But  while  occasional  rumors  of  danger 
would  spread,  it  was  hard  to  tell  whence,  I  think  nothing 
of  a  serious  nature  occurred.    Nevertheless,  albeit  resent- 
ment and  hostility  were  repressed  in  outward  manifesta- 
tion by  the  strong  hand  of  the  government,  and  by  the 
examples  of  punishment  already  made,  they  were  still 
burning  beneath  the  surface.     It  was  during  this  period 
that  the  British  minister,  visiting  Kioto,  a  concession  jeal- 
ously resisted  by  conservative  Japanese  spirit,  was  set  upon 
by  some  ronins  while  on  his  way  to  pay  an  official  call.   He 
was  guarded  by  British  cavalry  and  marines,  and  had  be- 
sides an  escort  of  samurai.     It  was  said  at  the  time  that 
these  fled,  except  the  officers,  who  fought  valiantly,  slay- 
ing one  and  beating  down  the  other  of  the  two  most  des- 
perate assailants.     Considering  the  well-established  cour- 
age of  the  Japanese,  and  that  the  attack  was  by  their  own 
people,  sympathy  with  the  attempt  seems  the  most  likely 
explanation  of  the  faithlessness  reported.     The  immediate 
effect  of  this  was  to  curtail  our  privileges  of  riding  about 
the  country  of  Yokohama. 

Perhaps  the  most  notable  incident,  historically,  of  our 
stay  in  Yokohama  was  the  arrival  of  the  first  iron-clad 
of  the  Japanese  navy,  to  which  it  has  fallen  a  genera- 
tion later  to  give   the  most   forcible  lesson  yet  seen  of 

250 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

iron-clads  in  battle.  This  vessel  had  been  the  Confeder- 
ate ram  Stonewall,  and  prior  to  licr  acquisition  by  Japan 
had  had  a  curiously  checkered  career  of  ownership.  She 
was  built  in  Bordeaux,  under  the  name  Sphinx,  by  con- 
tract between  a  French  firm  and  the  Confederate  naval 
agent  in  Europe;  but  some  difficulty  arose  between  the 
parties,  and  in  1864  Denmark,  being  then  at  war  with 
Austria  and  Prussia  concerning  the  Schleswig  -  Holstein 
duchies,  bought  her  under  certain  conditions.  With  a 
view  to  delivery  to  the  Danish  government  she  was  taken 
to  a  Swedish  port,  and  after  a  nominal  sale  proceeded 
under  the  Swedish  flag  to  Copenhagen,  where  she  remained 
in  charge  of  a  banker  of  that  city.  Peace  having  been 
meanwhile  declared,  Denmark  no  longer  wanted  her.  The 
sale  was  nullified  under  pretext  of  failure  in  the  conditions, 
and  she  passed  finally  into  the  hands  of  the  Confederacy,^ 
sailing  from  Copenhagen  January  7,  1865.  Off  Quiberon, 
in  France,  she  received  a  crew  from  another  vessel  under 
Confederate  direction,  and  thence  attempted  to  go  to  the 
Azores,  but  was  forced  by  bad  weather  into  Ferrol.  From 
there  she  crossed  the  Atlantic ;  but  by  the  time  of  her  ar- 
rival the  War  of  Secession  was  ended  by  the  surrenders  of 
Lee  and  Johnston.  Her  commander  took  her  to  Havana, 
and  there  gave  her  up  to  the  Spanish  authorities.  Spain, 
in  turn,  in  due  time  delivered  her  to  the  United  States,  as 
the  legal  heir  to  all  spoils  of  the  Confederacy.  Several  years 
later,  in  1871,  I  had  a  share  in  bringing  home  part  of  these 
often  useless  trophies ;  the  ship  in  which  I  was  having  gone 
to  Europe,  without  guns,  loaded  with  provisions  to  supply 
the  needs  of  the  French  poor,  presumed  to  be  suffering  from 
the  then  recent  war  with  Germany,  Our  cargo  discharged, 
we  were  sent  to  Liverpool,  and  there  took  on  board  some 
rifled  cannon  and  projectiles  originally  made  for  the  South. 

^Official  Record  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Navies,  Series  I.,  voL 
iii.,  p.  722. 

251 


FROM   SAIL  TO  STEMI 

The  Slonewall  had  been  lying  at  the  Washington  Navy- 
Yard  when  I  was  stationed  there  in  1866.  Measured  by 
to-day's  standards  she  was  of  trivial  power,  small  in  size, 
moderate  in  speed,  light  in  armor  and  armament;  but  her 
ram  was  of  formidable  dimensions,  and  at  that  period  the 
tactical  value  of  the  ram  was  estimated  much  more  highly 
than  it  now  is.  The  disastrous  effect  of  the  thrust,  if  suc- 
cessfully made,  outweighed  in  men's  minds  the  difficulty 
of  hitting;  an  error  of  valuation  similar  to  that  which  has 
continuously  exaggerated  the  danger  from  torpedo  craft 
of  all  kinds.  After  the  sailing  of  the  Iroquois,  a  deputa- 
tion of  Japanese  officials  came  to  the  United  States  on  a 
mission,  part  of  which  was  to  buy  ships  of  war.  In  re- 
ply to  their  inquiries,  Commander — now  Rear-Admiral — 
George  Brown,  then  ordnance  officer  of  the  yard,  pointed 
out  the  Stonewall  to  them  as  a  vessel  suitable  for  their  im- 
mediate purposes,  and  with  which  our  government  might 
probably  part.  He  also  expressed  a  favorable  opinion  of 
her  sea-going  qualities  for  reaching  Japan.  A  few  days 
later  they  came  to  him  and  said  that,  as  he  thought  well 
of  her,  perhaps  he  would  midertake  to  carry  her  out;  their 
own  seamanship  at  that  early  date  being  unequal  to  the 
responsibility.  This  was  more  than  was  anticipated  by 
Brown,  interested  in  his  present  duties,  but  it  rather  put 
him  on  his  mettle;  and  so  he  set  forth,  a  satisfactory  pe- 
cuniary arrangement  having  been  concluded.  She  went 
by  way  of  the  Strait  of  Magellan  and  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
reaching  Yokohama  without  other  incident  than  constant 
ducking.  As  one  of  her  officers  said,  clothes  needed  not 
to  be  scrubbed;  a  soiled  garment  coidd  be  simply  secured  on 
the  forward  deck,  and  left  there  to  wash  in  the  water  that 
came  on  board  until  it  was  clean.  I  have  never  known  her 
subsequent  fortunes  in  Japanese  hands;  but  as  the  begin- 
ning of  their  armored  navy  she  has  a  place  in  history — and 
here. 

252 


CHINA  AxNTD  JAPAN 

From  Yokohama  the.  Iroquois  returned  to  Kobe,  and 
there  lay  during  July,  August,  and  September;  so  that  in 
our  two  visits  I  passed  five  months  in  this  part  of  the 
Inland  Sea.  The  summer,  in  its  way,  is  there  as  pleasant 
as  the  winter  in  its.  The  highest  thermometer  I  read  was 
87°  Fahrenheit,  and  there  was  almost  always  a  pleasant 
breeze.  The  country  was  now  so  far  safe  that  we  went 
everywhere  within  reasonable  reach  of  the  concession,  and 
the  scenery  presented  such  variety  in  sameness  as  to  be  a 
perpetual  source  of  enjoyment.  The  most  striking  char- 
acteristics are  the  views  of  the  enclosed  sea  itself,  ample  in 
expanse,  yet  without  the  monotony  attendant  upon  an 
unbounded  water  view;  and,  when  that  disappears,  fol- 
lows the  succession  of  enclosed  valleys,  ahke,  yet  different; 
a  recurrent  feature  similar,  though  on  another  scale,  to 
that  presented  by  the  valley  of  the  Inn  on  the  ride  from 
Zurich  to  Innsbruck.  How  far  away  those  days  are  is 
seen  from  my  noting  on  one  of  them,  while  visiting  what 
was  known  to  us  as  the  Moon  Temple,  that  the  ships  of 
war  below  were  dressed  in  honor  of  the  first  Napoleon's 
birthday,  August  15th;  an  observance  which  ceased  with 
the  empire. 

This  time  I  managed  an  opportunity  of  seeing  Osaka, 
which  the  disturbed  conditions  had  prevented  my  doing 
during  our  winter  stay.  Description  I  shall  avoid,  as  al- 
ways; enough  to  say  that  the  flatness  of  the  site,  in  low 
land,  six  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  narrow,  winding 
river,  makes  the  city  one  of  canals,  like  Venice  and  Amster- 
dam. In  visiting  the  great  castle  of  the  Tycoon,  a  stone 
fortification  notable  not  only  for  its  own  size,  but  for  the 
dimensions  of  the  huge  single  stones  of  which  it  is  built, 
we  went  by  boat,  following  a  sluggish  watercourse,  an 
eighth  of  a  mile  wide,  and  so  shallow  that  we  poled  through 
it.  The  pull  from  the  bar  to  the  city  was  very  tedious, 
and  Kobe  evidently  had  proved  the  better  commercial 

17  253 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

situation;  for  even  now,  half  a  year  after  the  opening  of 
the  port;  we  were  looked  upon  with  curiosity;  were  fol- 
lowed by  crowds  which  stopped  if  we  stopped,  moved 
when  we  moved.  To  the  children  we  were  objects  of  ap- 
prehension; they  eyed  us  fearfully,  and  scuttled  away 
rapidly  if  we  made  any  feint  at  rushing  towards  them. 
Nevertheless,  the  prevailing  tone  among  the  common  peo- 
ple was  now  plainly  kindly,  although  six  months  before 
they  would  at  times  spit  at  foreigners  from  the  bridges 
which  in  great  numbers  span  the  streams.  The  temper  of 
those  who  form  mobs  changes  lightly.  It  is  true  that  in 
our  excursions  we  were  accompanied  by  an  armed  guard, 
which  would  seem  to  indicate  possibilities  of  danger;  but 
these  samurai  themselves  were  not  only  courteous,  but  in- 
terested and  smiling,  and  I  thought  gave  good  promise 
that  their  class  in  general  was  coming  roimd  to  friendli- 
ness. 

We  left  Kobe  towards  the  end  of  September,  in  company 
with  a  new  flag-ship  which  had  arrived  to  take  the  place  of 
the  Hartford.  This  vessel  rejoiced  to  call  herself  Pis- 
cataqua,  which  is  worth  recording  as  a  sample  of  a  class 
of  name  then  much  affected  by  the  powers  that  were,  pre- 
sumably on  account  of  their  length;  ''fine  flourishers,"  to 
quote  the  always  illustrative  Boatswain  Chucks,  "as  long 
as  their  homeward-boimd  pendants,  which  in  a  calm  drop 
in  the  water  alongside."  Piscataqua,  however  micouth, 
most  Americans  can  place;  but  what  shall  we  say  of  Am- 
monoosuc,  Wampanoag,  and  such  like,  then  adorning  our 
lists,  which  seem  as  though  extracted  by  a  fine-tooth  comb 
drawn  through  the  tangle  of  Indian  nomenclature.  Under 
the  succeeding  administration  Piscataqua  was  changed  to 
Delaware.  The  new  commander-in-chief  was  among  our 
most  popular  officers,  distinguished  ahke  for  seamanship, 
courage,  and  courtesy;  but  he  held  to  great  secrecy  as  to 
his  mtentions,  which  caused  officers  more  inconvenience 

254 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

than  seemed  always  quite  necessary.  Questions  of  mess- 
stores,  of  correspondence,  and  other  pre-arrangemcnts,  de- 
pend much  upon  knowledge  of  future  movements,  as  exact 
as  may  not  interfere  with  service  emergencies.  These  in 
peace  times  rarely  require  concealment.  A  characteristic 
story  ran  that,  as  the  two  vessels  were  leaving  Kobe,  when 
the  flag-ship's  anchor  was  a-weigh,  her  captain,  still  igno- 
rant of  her  destination,  turned  to  the  admiral  and  said, 
''Which  way  shall  I  lay  her  head,  sir?" 

It  turned  out  that  we  were  bound  to  Nagasaki,  on  our 
way  to  China.  The  approaching  northeast  monsoon,  with 
its  dry,  bracing  air,  dictates  the  period  when  foreign  squad- 
rons usually  go  south,  having  during  tlie  summer  in  Japan 
avoided  the  debilitating  damp  heat  which  those  months 
entail  in  Shanghai,  Hong  Kong,  and  the  Chinese  ports 
generally.  The  Iroquois,  however,  had  soon  to  separate 
from  the  flag-ship,  owing  to  news  received  of  a  singular 
occurrence,  savoring  more  of  two  hundred  years  ago,  or  of 
to-day's  dime  novel  —  "shilhng  shocker,"  as  our  British 
brethren  have  it — than  of  the  prosaic  nineteenth  century. 
There  had  arrived  at  Hakodate,  the  northernmost  of  the 
then  open  Japanese  ports,  on  the  island  of  Yezo  and  Strait 
of  Tsugaru,  a  mysterious  bark,  without  name  or  papers, 
peopled  only  by  Chinese  of  the  coolie  class,  and  bearing 
evident  marks  of  foul  play.  From  indications  she  was  sup- 
posed to  be  American,  and  our  ship,  being  the  most  im- 
mediately available,  was  ordered  up  to  investigate ;  leaving 
Nagasaki  October  24,  1868.  Our  course  took  us  over  the 
ground  which  has  since  become  historic  by  the  destruction 
of  Rodjestvensky's  fleet,  as  well  as  by  other  incidents  of 
the  Russo-Japanese  war;  and  the  weather  we  had,  both 
going  and  returning,  would  justify  the  anxiety  said  to 
have  been  felt  by  the  Japanese  naval  authorities,  that  Port 
Arthur  should  be  taken  before  the  winter  set  in.  Like 
men,  ships  must  do  their  work  at  whatever  cost;  but  like 

255 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

men  also,  and  perhaps  even  more,  they  should  be  spared 
needless  strain,  especially  if  they  be  few.  A  sick  ship  needs 
usually  more  time  for  recovery  than  a  sick  man. 

Our  orders  directed  a  stop  at  a  port  called  Niigata,  on 
the  west  coast  of  Nippon.  We  must  have  communicated, 
for  I  thence  despatched  a  letter;  but  at  the  time  of  our  ar- 
rival a  furious  northwest  gale  was  blowing,  dead  on  shore. 
The  ship,  therefore,  ran  under  a  largish  island  called  Sado, 
which  much  to  our  convenience  lies  a  few  miles  to  sea- 
ward of  Niigata,  and  there  anchored;  quietly  enough  as 
to  wind,  though  gusty  willy-waws  descending  from  the 
cliffs  and  swishing  the  water  in  petty  whirlwinds  testi- 
fied to  the  commotion  outside.  We  had  quite  the  same 
experience  returning  to  Shanghai ;  but  at  that  time  in  mid- 
sea,  where  the  Iroquois,  powerless  as  to  steam,  but  other- 
wise as  much  at  home  as  the  sea-fowl,  rode  it  out  gleefully, 
though  I  admit  not  luxuriously  to  flesh  and  muscles. 

On  November  1st  we  reached  Hakodate,  where  our  cap- 
tain and  consul,  aided  by  the  Japanese  authorities,  pro- 
ceeded at  once  with  their  investigation.  The  strange  ves- 
sel was  in  as  distressed  condition,  almost,  as  that  of  the 
Ancient  Mariner  when  he  drew  near  "his  own  countree:" 
sails  gone,  rigging  flying  loose,  one  of  her  topgallant  masts, 
if  I  remember  right,  snapped  in  two,  and  the  exterior  of 
her  hull  as  though  neither  paint  nor  soap  had  known  it  for 
years.  In  her  cabins  were  marks  of  blood  not  eradicated ; 
and  particularly  on  the  transom  over  the  stern  windows  was 
the  print  of  a  bloody  hand,  the  fingers  spread  wide  as  they 
rested  against  the  paint,  suggesting  resistance  by  one  being 
thrust  out.  The  story  so  far  collected  from  the  coolies 
was  that  they  had  sailed  in  her  from  Macao,  a  Portuguese 
port  near  Canton  and  Hong  Kong,  and  that  the  captain 
and  crew,  after  taking  her  far  north  in  the  ice,  had  aban- 
doned her  altogether.  In  support  of  this  part  of  their 
story  they  showed  furs  procured  from  the  natives.     These 

256 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

gave  plausibility  to  the  ice  experiences;  but  the  rest  of 
the  account,  unlikely  in  itself,  had  been  disproved  by  in- 
quiry in  Macao,  where  nothing  was  known  of  any  vessel 
answering  to  the  descriptions.  At  last,  however,  a  rumor 
had  come,  how  conveyed  I  know  not,  that  such  a  bark, 
with  coolies  and  twelve  thousand  dollars  in  gold  on  board, 
had  sailed  from  Callao,  in  Peru,  the  previous  January,  and 
had  never  since  been  heard  from ;  that  she  had  a  Peruvian 
captain  and  crew,  but  carried  American  colors,  probably 
merely  as  indicating  American  property.  To  claim  full 
American  privilege,  ships  must  be  American  built;  but  one 
bought  abroad  and  owned  by  Americans  may  carry  the 
flag,  in  proof  of  nationality,  though  without  the  right  of 
entering  an  American  port  like  those  to  the  manner  born. 
They  thus  become  entitled  to  the  same  national  regard  as 
any  other  possessions  of  American  citizens  under  foreign 
jurisdiction. 

So  information  stood  when  the  Iroquois  arrived — false 
on  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  vague.  Soon  after  the  cap- 
tain and  consul  began  their  investigation  they  stumbled 
upon  the  vessel's  papers,  concealed  in  a  manner  which  had 
hitherto  baffled  careful  search.  These  showed  that  she  was 
the  missing  Cayalti,  which  on  the  previous  January  18th 
had  cleared  from  Callao  for  another  Peruvian  port;  that 
she  was  American  in  ownership,  while  the  captain  and  crew 
were  Spanish  in  name.  This  fixed  her  identity;  but  how 
account  for  the  disappearance  of  the  ship's  company,  and 
for  her  presence  in  Hakodate,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pa- 
cific, three  thousand  miles  north  of  Callao.  To  this  inquiry 
the  captain  and  consul  addressed  themselves  in  the  cabin 
of  the  Iroquois.  Two  or  three  Japanese  two-sworded  offi- 
cials were  in  attendance,  and  memory  recalls  their  grave, 
impassive  faces,  as  seen  at  times  when  some  routine  com- 
munication called  me  in  to  speak  to  our  captain. 

Contracted  though  the  captain's  quarters  were,  the  un- 

257 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

accustomed  scene,  absent  from  their  companions  and  from 
the  famihar  surromidings  of  their  probable  crime,  was  cal- 
culated to  impress  the  culprits;  and  the  methods  pursued 
to  instigate  admissions  savored,  I  fancy,  more  of  the  Ori- 
ent than  of  modern  Anglo-Saxon  ideals.  But  the  present 
functions  of  our  officials  corresponded  to  those  of  the 
French  juges  dHnstruciion;  and,  having  to  elicit  the  truth 
from  a  low  class  of  Orientals,  they  dealt  with  them  after 
the  fashion  which  alone  they  would  recognize  as  serious. 
The  witnesses  began,  of  course,  by  lying  in  the  most  trans- 
parent manner,  but  under  judicious— or  judicial— pressure 
a  story  was  pieced  together  wliich  in  main  outline  probably 
corresponded  with  the  truth;  for  in  it  three  or  four  of  them 
independently  agreed.  Two  days  out  from  Callao  the 
coolies  had  risen  against  the  whites,  and  after  a  short  fight 
overpowered  them.  Of  the  crew,  two  jumped  overboard; 
the  rest  submitted.  A  boat  was  then  lowered,  and  the 
men  in  the  water  were  killed;  after  which  the  others  were 
tied  together,  made  fast  to  an  anchor,  and  so  thrown  into 
the  sea,  the  mate,  who  had  fought  desperately,  having  first 
been  mutilated  by  cutting  off  his  ears.  The  captain  and 
a  Chinese  steward  were  saved;  the  former  to  handle  the 
ship,  to  which  the  coolies  were  unequal,  and  he  was  bidden 
to  take  her  to  China.  I  do  not  find  in  my  contemporary 
letters  the  impression  which  remains  on  my  mind,  that 
they  estimated  his  general  observance  of  this  order  by  the 
vague  knowledge  that  China  lay  towards  the  evening  sun. 
The  history  of  that  strange  voyage  would  be  interesting,  but 
was  scarcely  recoverable  in  detail  from  the  class  of  wit- 
nesses. It  would  be  by  no  means  certain  that  the  master 
of  a  coastwise  trader  could  navigate  accurately;  and,  while 
he  would  always  be  sure  of  death  if  he  brought  the  vessel 
within  reach  of  China,  it  is  not  apparent  why  he  should 
take  her  to  the  remote  north  in  which  the  furs  showed  her 
to  have  been.    I  have,  never  heard  whether,  as  the  evi- 

258 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

dence  ran,  he  and  the  steward  escaped  aHve,  abandon- 
ing the  ship.*  He  had  disappeared  when  the  Japanese 
found  her  drifting  helplessly  under  her  ignorant  occu- 
pants. 

While  in  Hakodate,  I  availed  myself  of  the  opportunity 
to  visit  a  great  lake  and  a  volcano,  not  extinct,  but  not 
immediately  active.  They  are  distant  about  fifteen  miles 
from  the  town,  a  position  in  which  I  see  such  a  sheet  of 
water  on  the  maps  of  to-day.  This  was  a  long  ride  in  the 
then  state  of  the  roads,  after  the  autumn  rains,  and  with 
nightly  freeze  sufficient  continually  to  fix  the  moisture, 
and  then  to  renew  the  dampness  towards  the  noon-day 
thaw.  Transport  was  not  by  wheel,  but  by  pack-animals; 
and  as  these  marched  in  companies  of  a  half-dozen  or  so, 
in  single  file,  haltered  one  to  the  other,  each  as  he  stepped 
put  his  foot  into  the  prints  made,  not  merely  by  his  im- 
mediate file-leader  of  the  particular  gang,  but  by  all  others 
going  and  coming  for  weeks  before.  The  consequence  was 
a  succession  of  scallops,  distributed  over  long  stretches  of 
mud,  the  consistency  of  which  just  sufficed  to  hold  the 
shape  thus  impressed  upon  it.  Japanese  horses  are  small, 
and  as  a  class  quarrelsome;  the  one  I  rode  on  this  occasion 
was  httle  larger  than  a  child's  pony,  and  looked  as  if  he 
had  not  been  curried  for  a  month.  I  hesitated  to  impose 
upon  him  my  weight,  a  scruple  which  would  have  been 
intensified  had  I  known  the  character  of  the  pilgrimage 
through  wliich  he  was  to  bear  me.  With  his  feet  at  the 
bottom  of  the  scallop,  the  romided  top  rose  above  his 
knee,  nearly  giving  his  patient  nose  the  touch  which  his 
dejected  mood  and  drooping  head  seemed  to  invite.    At 

1  Since  this  was  written,  I  have  been  told  by  one  of  the  officers  of 
the  Iroquois,  Lieutenant  —  now  Rear-Admiral  —  NicoU  Ludlow,  that 
many  years  afterwards  he  saw  the  story  of  the  CayaUi's  captain,  told 
by  himself,  in  the  Overland  Monthly,  of  San  Francisco.  He  had  been 
allowed  to  go  ashore  to  get  provisions,  and  of  course  did  not  return 

259 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

the  first  start  he  stumbled,  nearly  falling  on  me,   but  es- 
caped with  nostrils  and  mouth  full  of  liquid  dirt. 

A  day  to  go,  a  day  to  come,  and  one  intervening  to  cross 
the  lake  and  ascend  the  volcano,  measured  our  excursion; 
through  the  whole  of  which  we  had  sunny  skies  and  ex- 
hilarating temperature  till  the  last  hour  of  our  return,  when 
a  drizzling  rain  suggested  what  might  have  been  our  dis- 
comfort had  the  heavens  above  been  as  unpropitious  as 
the  roads  beneath.  Even  the  crossing  of  the  lake  and  the 
ascent  were  particularly  favored,  the  sky  literally  cloudless 
and  water  smooth;  whereas  the  following  morning,  when 
we  rose  to  depart,  a  fog  had  settled  on  the  mountain,  mak- 
ing movement  upon  it  doubtful  and  even  to  a  slight  degree 
dangerous.  The  lake,  some  six  miles  by  ten,  and  abound- 
ing in  islets,  lay  smihng  under  the  bright,  wintry  sun,  its 
shores  clad  with  leafless  forests  mingled  with  evergreens, 
save  the  barren  slopes  of  the  volcano  itself;  beneath  the 
distant  lava  stream  of  which  we  were  told  seventeen  hun- 
dred people  lay,  buried  by  the  last  eruption.  The  scene 
tempted  me  more  than  most  to  description,  for  the  brill- 
iant stillness  of  a  clear  November  day,  and  the  gaimt,  bare 
trees,  were  strange  to  our  long  experience  of  verdure  in 
southern  Japan,  and  smacked  strongly  of  home — Hako- 
date being  in  the  latitude  of  New  York;  but,  as  always, 
the  majority  have  their  own  vision,  their  own  memory,  of 
just  such  conditions  and  surroundings,  more  vivid  for  them 
than  another's  portrayal. 

The  two  nights  at  the  lake  we  slept  in  a  Japanese  tea- 
house, scrupulously  clean  and  quite  comfortable,  but  at 
that  early  date  and  remote  region  entirely  primitive;  I 
should  rather  say  strictly  native  in  all  its  arrangements. 
The  kitchen  was  innocent  of  European  suggestion;  we  ate 
with  chopsticks,  and  fish  from  the  lake  were  spitted  and 
cooked  around  a  fire  in  a  sandy  hearth,  contrived  below 
the  middle  of  the  room.      Eggs  were  in  abundance,  but 

260 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

coffee  was  sorely  missed  at  our  chilly  rising.  At  9  a.m. 
we  started  for  the  volcano,  getting  back  at  7  p.m.  We 
landed  at  the  foot  of  the  lava  stream  and  ascended  by  it 
through  a  picture  of  desolation.  From  shore  to  summit 
took  us  three  hours,  which  confirmed  to  me  a  rough  esti- 
mate of  the  height  as  about  four  thousand  feet.  The  grade 
was  not  severe,  some  thirty  or  forty  degrees;  but  by  this 
time  we  had  a  brisk  northwest  wind  blowing  down  our 
throats,  and  the  latter  part  of  the  way  our  feet  sank  deep 
in  volcanic  dust.  At  the  top  the  air  was  very  cold,  keen, 
and  rare,  but  somewhat  oppressive  to  the  lungs.  None  of 
us  cared  to  smoke,  after  eating  and  drinking,  but  the  view 
afforded  us  was  perfect;  limitless,  so  far  as  atmospheric 
conditions  went.  In  appearance  the  crater  differed  little,  I 
presume,  from  others  in  a  state  of  quiescence.  Smoke  and 
steam  poured  forth  continually,  in  one  spot  in  large  vol- 
umes; while  from  many  places  issued  little  jets,  such  as 
puff  from  the  out-door  pipes  of  a  factory,  suggesting  subter- 
ranean workmen.  These  were  especially  numerous  from  a 
large  mound  in  the  centre,  which  our  guide  told  us  was 
growing  bigger  and  bigger  with  his  successive  visits,  por- 
tending an  outburst  near.  If  his  observation  was  accu- 
rate, it  goes  to  show  the  coincident  sympathetic  move- 
ments which  occur  in  volcanic  regions  remote  from  one 
another;  for  this  year,  1868,  followed  one  of  great  terres- 
trial disturbance.  In  1867  two  of  our  naval  vessels  had 
been  carried  ashore  by  a  tidal  wave  in  the  West  Indies; 
and  of  two  others  lying  off  Arica,  Peru,  one  was  dashed  to 
pieces  against  the  cliffs,  while  the  other  was  carried  over 
low,  flat  ground  for  a  mile  or  so  inland,  where  her  disman- 
tled hull  was  still  lying  when  I  was  there  in  1884. 

Our  starting  when  we  did,  as  soon  as  possible,  three  days 
after  arrival,  justified  the  Nelsonian  maxim  not  to  trifle 
with  a  fair  wind;  for  we  just  culled  the  three  days  which 
were  the  cream,  and  only  cream,  of  our  stay.     From  our 

261 


FROM   SAIL  TO  STEAM 

return  on  the  6th,  to  sailing  on  the  12th,  there  was  but  one 
fair  twenty-four  hours — the  rest  from  blustering  to  furious; 
and  we  went  out  with  the  promise  of  a  gale  which  did  not 
with  evening  "in  the  west  sink  smilingly  forsworn."  The 
Iroquois  ran  through  Tsugaru  Strait  under  canvas,  with  a 
barometer  rather  tumbling  than  falhng,  and  an  east  wind 
fast  freshening  to  heavy.  We  knew  it  must  end  at  north- 
west; but  it  lasted  till  afternoon  of  the  next  day,  so  we  got 
a  good  offing.  The  shift  of  the  wind  was  in  its  accompa- 
niments spectacular — and  cyclonic.  The  morning  of  the 
13th  was  among  the  wildest  I  have  seen.  Daylight  came 
a  half -hour  late,  with  a  lurid  sky;  the  clouds,  the  con- 
fused, heaving  water,  the  sails,  spars,  and  deck  of  the  ship 
herself,  all  as  if  seen  in  a  Lorraine  glass.  It  having  become 
nearly  calm,  she  lay  thrashing  aimlessly  in  the  swell,  un- 
steadied  by  the  canvas.  The  barometer  still  fell  slowly 
till  two  in  the  afternoon,  when  it  stopped,  and  we  began 
to  look  out. 

"  First  rise  after  very  low 
Indicates  a  stronger  blow." 

At  three  it  rose  one  one-hundredth  of  an  inch,  and  almost 
simultaneously,  looking  over  the  weather  rail,  was  to  be 
seen  the  oncoming  northwester,  never  long  in  debt  to  a 
southeaster.  First  a  gleaming  white  line  of  foam  beneath 
the  sombre  horizon,  gradually  spreading  to  right  and  left, 
and  visibly  widening  as  it  drew  near.  Soon  its  deepen- 
ing surface  broke  to  view  into  innumerable  separate  wave- 
crests,  which  advanced  leaping  in  tumultuous  accord,  like 
the  bounding  rush  of  a  pack  of  wolves,  whom  you  may  see, 
and  whose  howling  you  can  imagine  but  do  not  yet  hear. 
As  Kingsley  has  said,  "  It  looks  so  dangerous,  and  you  are 
so  safe" — aU  the  thrill,  yet  none  of  the  apprehension.  The 
new  gale  struck  the  Iroquois  in  full  force.  Witliin  twenty 
minutes  it  had  reached  its  height,  and  so  continued  for 

262 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

near  forty -eight  hours,  (hiring  thirty -six  of  which  the 
hatches  were  battened  down.  For  a  time  the  two  seas, 
the  old  and  the  new,  fought  each  other  to  our  discomfort; 
but  the  old  yielded,  and,  as  the  new  got  its  even,  regular 
swing,  the  Iroquois  agreed  with  its  enemy  of  the  moment 
and  rode  easily. 

With  our  arrival  at  Shanghai  we  had  left  beliind  what- 
ever in  the  cruise  of  the  Iroquois  could  be  considered  ex- 
ceptional as  to  incident;  that  is,  while  I  remained  with  her. 
From  December,  1868,  we  entered  in  China  upon  the  usu- 
al routine  of  station  movement;  interesting  enough  at  the 
time,  but  from  which  my  memory  retains  nothing  note- 
worthy. Subsequently  we  visited  Formosa  and  Manila  and 
Hong  Kong;  whence  we  were  sent  south  for  ten  days  to 
the  Gulf  of  Hainan  to  search  for  a  French  corvette  which 
had  disappeared.  We  did  not  find  her,  nor  was  she  again 
seen  by  mortal  eyes.  Returning  to  Hong  Kong,  we  learned 
of  the  first  election  of  General  Grant  to  the  presidency,  and 
that  a  letter  from  him  had  reached  the  admiral  asking  that 
the  captain  of  the  flag-ship,  who  as  a  school  comrade  had 
once  saved  Grant's  life,  should  be  ordered  home ;  the  inten- 
tion being  to  give  him  charge  of  an  unportant  bureau  in 
the  Navy  Department.  Under  usual  circumstances  a  re- 
lief would  have  been  sent  out;  but  as  the  request  was 
from  the  expectant  administration,  not  from  the  one  still 
in  power  and  antagonistic,  a  private  letter  was  the  chosen 
medium  of  action. 

His  departure  made  a  vacancy,  to  which  succeeded  the 
captain  of  the  Iroquois,  a  great  favorite  with  the  command- 
er-in-chief. I  was  left  in  charge  of  the  ship  until  we  went 
back  to  Japan  in  May.  There  I  fell  ill  at  Nagasaki,  and 
after  recovery  found  myself  at  Yokohama,  in  command  of 
a  gunboat  ordered  to  be  sold.  This  consummation  was 
reached  in  September,  and  I  then  started  for  home,  having 
the  admiral's  permission  to  proceed  by  Suez  to  Em^ope, 

263 


# 


FROM   SAIL  TO  STEAM 

instead  of  by  the  usual  route  to  San  Francisco.  My  object 
was  only  to  visit  Europe;  but  on  the  way  to  Hong  Kong 
a  Parsee  merchant,  a  fellow-passenger,  suggested  turning 
aside  to  India,  which  I  had  not  contemplated.  I  shall  not 
go  into  my  brief  India  travel  from  Calcutta  to  Bombay, 
beyond  mentioning  the  singular  good-fortune,  as  it  ap- 
peared to  me,  that  I  visited  the  ruined  residence  at  Luck- 
now,  and  the  remains  of  the  memorable  siege  of  twelve 
years  before,  in  the  company  of  an  officer  who  had  him- 
self been  a  participant.  His  wife,  still  a  very  young  and 
handsome  woman,  whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting, 
had  been  one  of  the  children  within  the  works,  sharing  the 
perils,  if  not  the  anxieties,  of  their  mothers  during  that 
period  of  awful  suspense. 

Nor  do  I  think  my  six  months  in  Europe,  leave  for  which 
met  me  on  my  arrival  there,  worthy  of  particular  note, 
save  in  one  incident  which  has  always  seemed  to  me  curi- 
ous. Landing  at  Marseilles,  I  found  that  intimate  friends 
were  then  at  Nice.  I  accordingly  went  there,  instead  of 
to  Paris,  as  I  had  intended;  and,  like  thoughtless  young 
men  everywhere,  abandoned  myself  to  pleasant  society 
instead  of  to  self-improvement  by  travel.  My  purpose, 
however,  continually  was  to  go  directly  to  Paris  when  I 
did  leave  Nice,  for  my  time  was  limited;  but  a  middle- 
aged  friend  strongly  dissuaded  me.  "You  should  by  no 
means  fail  to  visit  Rome  now,"  he  said,  "for,  indepen- 
dently of  the  immortal  interest  of  the  place,  of  the  treas- 
ures of  association  and  of  art  which  are  its  imperishable 
birthright,  there  is  the  more  transient  spectacle  of  the 
Papacy,  in  the  pride,  pomp,  and  circumstance  of  the  tem- 
poral power.  This  may  at  any  moment  pass  away,  and  you 
therefore  may  never  have  another  opportunity  to  witness 
it  in  its  glory.  There  is  a  vague  traditional  prophecy  that, 
as  St.  Peter  held  the  bishopric  of  Rome  twenty-five  years, 
any  pope  whose  tenure  exceeds  his  will  see  the  downfall 

264 


CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

of  the  papal  sovereignty  over  Rome.  Such  prophecies 
often  insure  their  own  fulfilment,  and  Pius  IX.  is  now 
closely  approaching  his  twenty-fifth  year.  Go  while  you 
can."  So  I  went,  in  February,  1870;  and  before  the  next 
winter's  snow  the  temporal  power  was  a  thing  of  the  past. 


XI 

THE   TURNING  OF   A   LONG   LANE— HISTORICAL,  NAVAL, 
AND   PERSONAL 

1870 

In  narrating  the  cruise  of  the  Iroquois  I  have,  as  it  were, 
laid  the  reins  on  the  neck  of  my  memory,  letting  it  freely 
run  away;  partly  because  our  track  lay  over  stretches  of 
sea  even  now  somewhat  unbeaten  by  travel,  partly  be- 
cause the  story  of  routine  naval  life  and  incidental  experi- 
ences, in  a  time  already  far  past,  might  have  for  the  non- 
professional reader  more  novelty  than  could  be  premised 
by  me,  a  daily  participant  therein.  Moreover,  there  were 
in  our  cruise  some  exceptional  occurrences  which  might  be 
counted  upon  to  relieve  monotony.  I  purpose  to  observe 
greater  restraint  in  what  follows. 

The  year  1870,  in  which  I  returned  home,  was  one  of 
marked  and  decisive  influence  upon  history,  and  in  a  way 
a  turning-point  in  my  own  obscure  career.  As  in  February 
I  witnessed  the  splendors  of  the  papal  city  mider  its  old 
regime,  so  in  April  and  May  I  saw  imperial  Paris  brilliant 
under  the  emperor.  In  the  one  case  as  in  the  other  I  was 
unconscious  of  the  approaching  debacle;  a  bhndness  I  pre- 
sume shared  by  most  contemporaries.  Whatever  the  wiser 
and  more  far-seeing  might  have  prophesied  as  to  the  gen- 
eral ultimate  issues,  few  or  none  could  then  have  foretold 
the  particular  occasion  which  so  soon  afterwards  opened 
the  floodgates.  As  the  old  passed,  with  the  downfall  of  the 
French  Empire  and  of  the  temporal  kingdom,  there  arose 

266 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

a  new;  not  merely  the  German  Empire  and  the  unity  of 
Italy,  crowned  by  the  possession  of  its  historic  capital,  but, 
unrecognized  for  the  moment,  then  came  in  that  reign  of 
organized  and  disciplined  force,  the  full  effect  and  func- 
tion of  which  in  the  future  men  still  only  dimly  discern. 
The  successive  rapid  overthrows  of  the  Austrian  and 
French  empires  by  mihtary  efficiency  and  skill;  the  beat- 
ing in  detail  two  separate  foes  who,  united,  might  have 
been  too  strong  for  the  victor;  the  consequent  crimibling 
of  the  papal  monarchy  when  French  support  was  with- 
drawn, following  closely  on  the  Vatican  Decree  of  Infalli- 
bility; these  things  produced  an  impression  which  was 
transmitted  rapidly  throughout  the  world  of  European 
civihzation,  till  in  the  Farther  East  it  reached  Japan.  Into 
the  current  thus  established  the  petty  stream  of  my  own 
fortunes  was  drawn,  Httle  anticipated  by  myself.  To  it 
was  due  my  special  call;  for  by  it  was  created  the  predis- 
position to  recognize  the  momentous  bearing  of  maritime 
force  upon  the  course  of  history,  which  insured  me  a  hear- 
ing when  the  fulness  of  my  time  was  come. 

Until  1870  my  life  since  graduation  had  been  passed 
afloat  almost  without  interruption.  Soon  afterwards  I 
obtained  command  rank;  and  this  promotion,  combined 
with  the  dead  apathy  which  after  the  War  of  Secession 
settled  upon  our  people  with  regard  to  the  navy,  left  me 
with  relatively  little  active  employment  for  several  years. 
In  America,  the  naval  stagnation  of  that  period  was  some- 
thing now  almost  incredible.  The  echoes  of  the  guns  which 
from  Koniggratz  and  a  dozen  battle-fields  in  France  had 
resomided  round  the  globe,  awakening  the  statesmen  of 
all  countries,  had  apparently  ricochetted  over  the  United 
States,  as  fog  sound-signals  are  noticed  to  rebound  over- 
head, imheard  through  long  stretches  of  the  sea -level, 
until  they  again  touch  the  water  beyond.  The  nation 
slumbered  peacefully  in  its  "petit  coin,"  to  use  the  ex- 

267 


FROM   SAIL   TO   STEAM 

pressive  phrase  of  a  French  admiral  to  me.  Had  even 
nothing  been  done,  this  inertness  might  have  been  less 
significant;  but  somewhere  in  the  early  seventies,  despite 
all  the  progress  elsewhere  noticeable,  there  were  built  de- 
liberately some  half-dozen  corvettes,  smaller  than  the  Iro- 
quois class,  mostly  of  wood.  That  a  period  of  lethargy  in 
action  should  steal  over  a  government  just  released  from 
strenuous  exertion  is  one  thing,  and  bad  enough;  but  it  is 
different,  and  much  worse,  that  there  should  be  a  paralysis 
of  idea,  of  mental  development  corresponding  to  the  move- 
ment of  the  world. 

I  myself  have  always  considered  that  the  "right  about" 
of  policy  came  with  the  administration  of  President  Arthur, 
when  Mr.  Chandler  .was  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  It  began 
with  a  work  of  destruction,  an  exposure  of  the  uselessness 
of  the  existing  naval  material,  due  purely  to  stand-still; 
to  being  left  hopelessly  in  the  rear  by  the  march  of  im- 
provement el  where.  Upon  this  followed  under  the  same 
administration  an  attempt  at  restoration,  gingerly  enough 
in  its  conceptions.  The  vessels  laid  down  were  cruisers, 
the  primary  quality  of  which  should  be  speed;  but  fourteen 
knots  was  the  highest  demanded,  and  that  of  one  only, 
the  Chicago.  Unhappily,  wherever  the  fault  lay,  the  navy 
then  had  the  habit  of  living  from  day  to  day  on  expedi- 
ents, on  makeshifts.  Although  deficiencies  were  manifest 
and  generally  felt,  the  prevaihng  sentiment  had  been  that 
we  should  wait  until  the  experiments  of  other  peoples, 
in  the  cost  of  which  we  would  not  share,  should  have 
reached  workable  finahties.  This  is  another  instance 
of  what  is  commonly  called  "  practical;"  as  though  mental 
processes  must  not  necessarily  antecede  efficient  action, 
and  as  though  there  was  not  then  at  hand  abundant 
data  for  brains  to  work  on,  without  any  expenditure  of 
money.  Finality,  indeed,  had  not  been  reached,  and  never 
will  be  in  anything  save  death;  but  at  that  time  it  had 

268 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

been  shown  beyond  peradventure  that  radically  new  con- 
ditions had  entered  naval  warfare,  and  clearly  the  first 
most  practical  step  was  a  mature  official  digestion  of  these 
conditions — a  decision  as  to  what  types  of  vessels  were 
needed,  and  what  their  respective  qualities  should  be.  In 
short,  the  first  and  perfectly  possible  thing  was  to  evolve 
a  systematic  policy;  a  careful  look,  and  then  a  big  leap. 

However,  things  rarely  come  about  in  that  way.  It  in- 
volves getting  rid  of  old  ideas,  which  is  quite  as  bad  as 
pulling  teeth,  and  much  harder;  and  the  subsequent  adop- 
tion of  new  ones,  that  are  as  uneasy  as  tight  shoes.  We 
had  then  certain  accepted  maxims,  dating  mainly  from 
1812,  which  were  as  thoroughly  current  in  the  country — 
and  I  fear  in  the  navy,  too — as  the  "dollar  of  the  daddies" 
was  not  long  after.  One  was  that  commerce  destroying 
was  the  great  efficient  weapon  of  naval  warfare.  Every- 
body— the  navy  as  well — believed  we  had  beaten  Great 
Britain  in  1812,  brought  her  to  her  knees,  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  her  commerce  through  the  system  observed  by  us 
of  single  cruisers;  naval  or  privateers.  From  that  errone- 
ous premise  was  deduced  the  conclusion  of  a  navy  of 
cruisers,  and  small  cruisers  at  that;  no  battle -ship  nor 
fleets.^  Then  we  wanted  a  navy  for  coast  defence  only,  no 
aggressive  action  in  our  pious  souls;  an  amusing  instance 
being  that  our  first  battle-ships  were  styled  "coast  defence" 
battle-ships,  a  nomenclature  which  probably  facilitated  the 
appropriations.  They  were  that;  but  they  were  capable 
of  better  things,  as  the  event  has  proved.     But  the  very 

'  This  is  not  the  place  for  a  discussion  of  commerce-destroying  as  a 
method  of  war;  but  having  myself  given,  as  I  believe,  historical  demon- 
stration that  as  a  sole  or  principal  resource,  maintained  by  scattered 
cruisers  only,  it  is  insufficient,  I  wish  to  warn  public  opinion  against 
the  reaction,  the  return  swing  of  the  pendulum,  seen  by  me  with  dis- 
may, which  would  make  it  of  no  use  at  all,  and  under  the  plea  of  im-- 
munity  to  "private  property,"  so  called,  would  exempt  from  attack 
the  maritime  commerce  of  belligerents. 
^8  269 


FROM   SAIL  TO  STEAM 

fact  that  such  talk  passed  unchallenged  as  that  about  com- 
merce-destroying by  scattered  cruisers,  and  war  by  mere  de- 
fence— known  to  all  mihtary  students  as  utterly  futile  and 
ruinous — shows  the  need  then  existent  of  a  comprehensive 
survey  of  the  contemporary  condition  of  the  world,  and  of 
the  stage  which  naval  material  had  reached.  One  such 
was  made,  which  a  subsequent  secretary,  Mr.  Tracy,  char- 
acterized to  me  as  excellent;  but  the  deficiencies  and  re- 
quirements exposed  by  it  in  our  naval  status  frightened 
Congress,  much  as  the  confronting  of  his  affairs  terrify  a 
bankrupt. 

During  the  latter  part  of  Secretary  Chandler's  term  I 
was  abroad  in  command  of  the  Wachusett,  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  Besides  her,  the  squadron  consisted  of  the  Hart- 
ford, Farragut's  old  flag-ship,  the  Lackaivanna,  and  my 
former  ship,  the  Iroquois.  They  all  dated,  guns  as  well, 
from  the  War  of  Secession,  or  earlier.  Had  they  been  ex- 
ceptional instances,  on  a  station  of  no  great  importance,  it 
might  not  have  mattered  greatly ;  but  in  fact  they  still  re- 
mained representative  components  of  the  United  States 
navy.  The  squadron  organization,  too,  was  that  which 
had  prevailed  ever  since  I  entered  the  service,  and  so  con- 
tinued until  a  very  few  years  ago.  The  rule  was  that  the 
vessels  were  scattered,  one  to  this  port,  another  to  that. 
They  rarely  met,  except  for  interchange  of  duties;  and 
when  in  company  almost  the  only  exercises  in  common  were 
those  of  yards  and  sails,  in  which  the  ships  worked  com- 
petitively, to  beat  one  another's  time, — a  healthy  enough 
emulation.  But  this  rivalry  was  no  substitute  for  the 
much  more  necessary  practice  of  working  together,  in  mu- 
tual support;  for  the  acquired  habit  of  handling  vessels 
in  rapid  movement  and  close  proximity  with  fearless  judg- 
ment, based  upon  experience  of  what  your  own  could  do, 
and  what  might  be  confidently  expected  from  your  con- 
sorts, especially  your  next  ahead  and  astern.    A  new  cap- 

270 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

tain  for  the  Lackawanna  accompanied  me  to  the  station, 
where  we  found  our  ships  in  Callao,  assembled  with  the 
other  two.  Within  a  week  later  we  all  went  out  together, 
performed  three  or  four  simple  evolutions,  and  then  scat- 
tered. This  was  the  only  fleet  drill  we  had  in  the  two 
years,  1883-1885. 

In  fact,  from  time  immemorial  the  navy  had  thought 
in  single  ships,  as  the  army  had  in  company  posts.  To  the 
several  officers  their  own  ship  was  everything,  the  squadron 
little  or  nothing.  The  War  of  Secession  had  broadened  the 
ideas  of  the  army  by  enlarging  its  operations  in  the  field, 
although  peace  brought  a  relapse;  but  the  navy  having  to 
fight  only  shore  batteries,  not  fleets,  was  not  forced  out  of 
the  old  tactical  and  strategic  apathy.  The  huge  accumu- 
lations of  vessels  under  a  single  admiral  entailed  enlarged 
administrative  duties;  but  the  tactical  methods,  as  shown 
in  the  greater  battles,  presented  simply  the  adaptation  of 
means  to  a  particular  occasion,  and,  however  sagacious  in 
the  several  instances — and  they  usually  were  sagacious — 
possessed  no  continuity  of  system  in  either  theory  or  prac- 
tice. Organic  unity  did  not  exist  except  for  administra- 
tion. There  was  an  assemblage  of  vessels,  but  not  a  fleet. 
All  this  was  the  result,  or  at  least  the  complement,  of  the 
theory  of  commerce  destroying,  which  prescribed  cruisers 
that  act  singly;  and  of  war  by  defence  only,  which  pro- 
scribed battle-ships,  that  act  in  unison  and  so  compel  unity. 

A  further  incident  of  Mr.  Chandler's  tenure  of  office  was 
the  establishment  of  the  Naval  War  College  at  Newport. 
This  had  its  origin  in  the  recognition  of  a  defect  in  the 
constitution  of  the  Navy  Department,  which  was  glaringly 
visible  during  the  War  of  Secession.  Immense  and  admi- 
rable as  was  the  administrative  work  done  by  the  Depart- 
ment during  that  contest,  there  did  not  exist  in  it  then, 
nor  did  there  for  many  years  to  come,  any  formal  provi- 
sion for  the  proper  consideration  and  expert  decision  of 

271 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

strictly  military  questions,  from  the  point  of  view  of  mili- 
tary experience  and  professional  understanding.  The  head 
of  the  Department,  invariably  a  civiHan  under  our  form  of 
government,  and  therefore  usually  unfamiliar  with  naval 
matters,  had  not  assured  to  him,  at  instant  call,  organized 
professional  assistance,  individual  or  corporate,  prepared 
to  advise  him,  when  asked,  as  to  the  military  aspect  of  pro- 
posed operations,  what  the  arguments  for  or  against  feasi- 
bility, or  what  the  best  method  of  procedure.  In  other 
services,  notably  in  the  German  army,  this  function  is  dis- 
charged by  the  general  staff,  nothing  correspondent  to 
which  was  to  be  found  in  our  Navy  Department.  It  is 
evident  that  the  constitution  of  a  general  staff,  or  of  any 
similar  body  called  into  being  for  such  purpose,  will  be 
more  broadly  based,  and  sounder,  as  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
jects in  question  is  more  widely  distributed  among  the  offi- 
cers of  the  service;  and  that  such  knowledge  will  be  im- 
parted most  certainly  by  the  creation  of  an  institution  for 
the  systematic  study  of  military  operations,  by  land  or 
sea,  applying  the  experiences  of  history  to  contemporary 
conditions,  and  to  the  particular  theatres  of  possible  war 
in  which  the  nation  may  be  interested. 

Such  studies  are  the  object  of  the  Naval  War  College, 
which  was  established  upon  the  report  of  a  board  of  offi- 
cers, at  the  head  of  which  was  the  present  Rear-Admiral 
Stephen  B.  Luce,  to  whose  persistent  initiative  must  be 
attributed  much  of  the  movement  which  thus  resulted. 
The  other  members  of  the  board  were  the  late  Admiral 
Sampson,  and  Commander — now  Rear-Admiral — Caspar  F. 
Goodrich.  Luce  became  the  first  president  of  the  institu- 
tion, for  which  the  Department  assigned  a  building,  once 
an  almshouse,  situated  on  Coaster's  Harbor  Island,  in  Nar- 
ragansett  Bay,  then  recently  ceded  to  the  United  States 
government.  It  remained  still  to  get  together  a  staff  of 
instructors,  and  he  wrote  me  to  ask  if  I  would  undertake 

272 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG   LANE 

the  subjects  of  naval  history  and  naval  tactics.  The  prop- 
osition was  to  me  very  acceptable;  for  I  had  found  the 
Pacific  station  disagreeable,  and,  although  without  proper 
preparation,  I  believed  on  reflection  that  I  could  do  the 
work.  During  my  last  tour  of  shore  duty  I  had  read  care- 
fully Napier's  Peninsular  War,  and  had  found  myself  in  a 
new  world  of  thought,  keenly  interested  and  appreciative, 
less  of  the  brilliant  narrative — though  that  few  can  fail 
to  enjoy — than  of  the  military  sequences  of  cause  and 
effect.  The  influence  of  Sir  John  Moore's  famous  march  to 
Sahagun — less  famous  than  it  deserves  to  be — upon  Na- 
poleon's campaign  in  Spain,  revealed  to  me  by  Napier  like 
the  sun  breaking  through  a  cloud,  aroused  an  emotion  as 
joyful  as  the  luminary  himself  to  a  navigator  doubtful  of 
his  position. 

"Then  felt  I  as  some  watcher  of  the  skies 
When  a  new  planet  swims  into  his  ken; 
Or  like  stout  Cortez,  when  with  eagle  eyes 
He  stared  at  the  Pacific." 

Following  this  I  had  written  by  request  a  volume  on  the 
Navy  in  the  War  of  Secession,  entitled  The  Gulf  and  Inland 
Waters;  my  first  appearance  as  an  author.  Herein  also  I 
had  recognized  that  the  same  class  of  military  ideas  took 
possession  of  my  mind.  I  felt,  therefore,  that  I  should 
bring  interest  and  understanding  to  my  task,  and  hoped 
that  the  defects  of  knowledge,  which  I  clearly  realized, 
would  be  overcome.  I  recalled  also  that  at  the  Military 
Academy  my  father,  though  professor  only  of  engineering, 
mihtary  and  civil,  had  of  his  own  motion  introduced 
a  course  of  strategy  and  grand  tactics,  which  had  com- 
mended itself  to  observers.  I  trusted,  therefore,  that 
heredity,  too,  might  come  to  my  aid. 

As  acceptance  placed  me  on  the  road  which  led  direct- 
ly to  all  the  success  I  have  had  in  life,  I  feel  impelled  to 

273 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  Admiral  Luce.  With 
little  constitutional  initiative,  and  having  grown  up  in  the 
atmosphere  of  the  single  cruiser,  of  commerce-destroying, 
defensive  warfare,  and  indifference  to  battle  -  ships ;  an 
anti  -  imperialist,  who  for  that  reason  looked  upon  Mr. 
Blaine  as  a  dangerous  man;  at  forty-five  I  was  drifting 
on  the  lines  of  simple  respectability  as  aimlessly  as  one 
very  well  could.  My  environment  had  been  too  much  for 
me;  my  present  call  changed  it.  Meantime,  however,  there 
was  delay.  A  relief  would  not  be  sent,  because  the  ship 
was  to  go  home;  and  the  ship  did  not  go  home  because 
there  was,  first,  a  revolution  in  Panama,  and  then  a  war 
between  the  Central  American  states,  both  which  required 
the  Wachusetfs  presence.  Mr.  Cleveland  was  elected  at 
this  time;  there  was  a  change  of  administration,  and  with 
a  new  Secretary  a  lapse  of  Departmental  interest.  The 
ship  did  not  go  to  San  Francisco  till  September,  1885, 
nearly  a  year  after  the  admiral's  proposition  reached  me. 

The  year  had  not  been  unfruitful,  however.  Naturally 
predisposed,  as  I  have  said,  my  mind  ran  continually  on 
my  subject.  I  imagined  various  formations  for  developing 
to  the  best  effect  the  powers  of  steamships,  and  sudden 
changes  to  be  instituted  as  the  moment  of  collision  ap- 
proached, calculated  to  disconcert  the  opponent,  or  to  sur- 
prise an  advantage  before  he  could  parry.  Spinning  cob- 
webs out  of  one's  unassisted  brain,  without  any  previous 
absorption  from  external  sources,  was  doubtless  a  some- 
what crude  process;  yet  it  had  advantages.  One  of  my 
manoeuvres  was  to  pass  a  column  of  ships  by  an  un- 
expected flank  movement  across  the  head  of  an  enemy's 
column.  This  I  have  since  heard  called  "capping;"  if,  at 
least,  I  correctly  understand  that  word.  Putting  it  after- 
wards before  a  body  of  officers  attending  the  College 
course,  all  men  of  years  and  experience,  one  said  to  me, 
derisively,  "  Do  you  suppose  an  enemy  would  let  you  do 

274 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  lANE 

that?"  "It  is  a  question  of  how  quick  he  is,"  I  replied. 
"  In  these  clays  of  twelve  or  fifteen  knots  he  will  have  no 
time  to  ponder,  and  scarcely  time  to  act."  The  query  il- 
lustrates a  habit  of  mind  frequently  met.  It  is  like  dis- 
cussing the  merits  of  a  thrust  en  carte.  If  the  other  man 
is  quick  enough,  he  will  parry;  if  not,  he  will  be  run 
through;  sooner  or  later  the  more  skilful  usually  will  get  in. 
Naval  history  gave  me  more  anxiety,  and  I  afterwards 
found  it  was  that  which  Luce  particularly  desired  of  me. 
I  shared  the  prepossession,  common  at  that  time,  that  the 
naval  history  of  the  past  was  wholly  past ;  of  no  use  at  all 
to  the  present.  I  well  recall,  during  my  first  term  at  the 
College,  a  visit  from  a  reporter  of  one  of  the  principal  New 
York  journals.  He  was  a  man  of  rotund  presence,  florid 
face,  thrown-back  head,  and  tflowing  hair,  with  all  that 
magisterial  condescension  which  the  environment  of  the 
Fourth  Estate  nourishes  in  its  fortunate  members;  the 
Roman  citizen  was  "not  in  it"  for  birthright.  To  my  bad 
luck  a  plan  of  Trafalgar  himg  in  evidence,  as  he  stalked 
from  room  to  room.  "Ah,"  he  said,  with  superb  up-to- 
date  pity,  "you  are  still  talking  about  Trafalgar;"  and  I 
could  see  that  Trafalgar  and  I  were  thenceforth  on  the  top 
shelf  of  fossils  in  the  collections  of  his  memory.  This  point 
of  view  was  held  by  very  many.  "  You  won't  find  much  to 
say  about  history,"  was  the  direct  discouraging  comment  of 
an  older  officer.  On  the  other  hand.  Sir  Geoffrey  Hornby, 
less  well  known  in  this  country  than  in  Great  Britain,  where 
twenty  years  ago  he  was  recognized  as  the  head  of  the  pro- 
fession, distinctly  commended  to  me  the  present  value  of 
naval  history.  I  myself,  as  I  have  just  confessed,  had  had 
the  contrary  impression — a  tradition  passively  accepted. 
Tlius  my  mind  was  troubled  how  to  establish  relations  be- 
tween yesterday  and  to-day;  so  wholly  ignorant  was  I  of 
the  undying  reproduction  of  conditions  in  their  essential 
bearings — a  commonplace  of  military  art. 

275 


FROM   SAIL  TO  STEAM 

He  who  seeks,  finds,  if  he  does  not  lose  heart;  and  to  me, 
continuously  seeking,  came  from  within  the  suggestion  that 
control  of  the  sea  was  an  historic  factor  which  had  never 
been  systematically  appreciated  and  expounded.  Once 
formulated  consciously,  this  thought  became  the  nucleus 
of  all  my  writing  for  twenty  years  then  to  come ;  and  here  I 
may  state  at  once  what  I  conceive  to  have  been  my  part 
in  popularizing,  perhaps  in  making  effective,  an  argument 
for  which  I  could  by  no  means  claim  the  rights  of  discovery. 
Not  to  mention  other  predecessors,  with  the  full  roll  of 
whose  names  I  am  even  now  unacquainted.  Bacon  and 
Raleigh,  three  centuries  before,  had  epitomized  in  a  few 
words  the  theme  on  which  I  was  to  write  volumes.  That 
they  had  done  so  was,  indeed,  then  unknown  to  me.  For 
me,  as  for  them,  the  light  dawned  first  on  my  inner  con- 
sciousness; I  owed  it  to  no  other  man.  It  has  since  been 
said  by  more  than  one  that  no  claim  for  originality  could 
be  allowed  me ;  and  that  I  wholly  concede.  What  did  fall 
to  me  was,  that  no  one  since  those  two  great  Englishmen 
had  undertaken  to  demonstrate  their  thesis  by  an  analysis 
of  history,  attempting  to  show  from  current  events,  through 
a  long  series  of  years,  precisely  what  influence  the  command 
of  the  sea  had  had  upon  definite  issues;  in  brief,  a  concrete 
illustration.  In  the  preface  to  my  first  work  on  the  sub- 
ject, for  the  success  of  which  I  was  quite  unprepared,  I 
stated  this  as  my  aim:  "An  estimate  of  the  effect  of 
Sea  Power  upon  the  course  of  history  and  the  prosperity 
of  nations; . .  .  resting  upon  a  collection  of  special  instances, 
in  which  the  precise  effect  has  been  made  clear  by  an 
analysis  of  the  conditions  at  the  given  moments."  This 
field  had  been  left  vacant,  yielding  me  my  opportunity; 
and  concurrently  therewith,  untouched  from  the  point  of 
view  proposed  by  me,  there  lay  the  whole  magnificent  series 
of  events  constituting  maritime  history  since  the  days  of 
Raleigh  and  Bacon,  after  the  voyages  of  Columbus  and 

276 


THE  TURNING  OF -A  LONG  LANE 

De  Gama  gave  the  impetus  to  over-sea  activities,  colonies, 
and  commerce,  which  distinguishes  the  past  three  hundred 
years.  Even  of  this  hmited  period  I  have  occupied  but 
a  part,  though  I  fear  I  have  skimmed  the  cream  of  that 
which  it  offers;  but  back  behind  it  he  virgin  fields,  in  the 
careers  of  the  Italian  republics,  and  others  yet  more  re- 
mote in  time,  which  can  never  be  for  me  to  narrate,  al- 
though I  have  examined  them  attentively, 

I  cannot  now  reconstitute  from  memory  the  sequence  of 
my  mental  processes;  but  while  my  problem  was  still  wrest- 
ling with  my  brain  there  dawned  upon  me  one  of  those  con- 
crete perceptions  which  turn  inward  darkness  into  light — 
give  substance  to  shadow.  The  Wachusett  was  lying  at 
Callao,  the  seaport  of  Lima,  as  dull  a  coast  town  as  one 
could  dread  to  see.  Lima  being  but  an  hour  distant,  we 
frequently  spent  a  day  there;  the  English  Club  extending 
to  us  its  hospitality.  In  its  library  was  Mommsen's  His- 
tory of  Rome,  which  I  gave  myself  to  reading,  especially  the 
Hannibalic  episode.  It  suddenly  struck  me,  whether  by 
some  chance  phrase  of  the  author  I  do  not  know,  how  dif- 
ferent things  might  have  been  could  Hannibal  have  in- 
vaded Italy  by  sea,  as  the  Romans  often  had  Africa,  in- 
stead of  by  the  long  land  route ;  or  could  he,  after  arrival, 
have  been  in  free  communication  with  Carthage  by  water. 
This  clew,  once  laid  hold  of,  I  followed  up  in  the  particu- 
lar instance.  It  and  the  general  theory  already  conceived 
threw  on  each  other  reciprocal  illustration;  and  between 
the  two  my  plan  was  formed  by  the  time  I  reached  home, 
in  September,  1885.  I  would  investigate  coincidently  the 
general  history  and  naval  history  of  the  past  two  cen- 
turies, with  a  view  to  demonstrating  the  influence  of  the 
events  of  the  one  upon  the  other.  Original  research  was 
not  within  my  scope,  nor  was  it  necessary  to  the  scheme 
thus  outhned. 

Perhaps  it  is  only  a  subtle  form  of  egotism,  but  as  a 

277 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

condition  of  my  life  experience  I  could  wish  to  convey  to 
others  an  appreciation  of  my  profound  ignorance  of  both 
classes  of  history  when  I  began,  being  then  forty-five;  not 
that  I  mean  to  imply  that  now,  or  at  any  time  since,  I 
have  deluded  myself  with  the  imagination  that  I  have  be- 
come an  historian  after  the  high  modern  pattern.    I  tackled 
my  job  much  as  I  presume  an  immigrant  begins  a  clearing 
in  the  wilderness,  not  troubling  greatly  which  tree  he  takes 
first.     I  laid  my  hands  on  whatever  came  along,  reading 
with  the  profound  attention  of  one  who  is  looking  for 
something;   and  the  something  was  kind  enough  to  ac- 
knowledge my  devotion  by  shining  forth  in  unexpected 
ways  and  places.    Any  fine  of  investigation,  however  un- 
systematic in  method,  branches  out  in  many  directions, 
suggests  continually  new  sources  of  information,  to  one  in- 
terested in  his  work;  and  I  have  felt  constantly  the  force 
of  Johnson's  dictum  as  to  the  superior  profit  from  time 
spent  in  reading  what  is  congenial  over  the  drudgery  of 
constrained  apphcation.    Every  faculty  I  possessed  was 
alive  and  jumping.    Incidentally,  I  took  up  the  study  of 
land  warfare,  using  Jomini  and  Hamley.    For  naval  his- 
tory the  first  book  upon  which  I  chanced— the  word  is 
exact — was  just  what  I  needed  at  that  stage.    It  was  a 
history  of  the  French  navy,  by  a  Lieutenant  Lapeyrouse- 
Bonfils,  published  about  1845.    As  naval  history  pure  and 
simple,  I  think  httle  of  it;  but  the  author  had  a  quiet, 
philosophical  way  of  summing  up  causes  and  effects  in 
general  history,  as  connected  with  maritime  affairs,  which 
not  only  corresponded  closely  with  my  own  purpose,  but 
suggested  to  me  new  material  for  thought— novel  illus- 
tration.   Such  treatment  was  with  him  only  casual,  but 
it  opened  to  me  new  prospects. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  define  precisely  to  what  degree 
the  art  of  naval  warfare  had  been  formulated,  or  even 
consciously  conceived,  in  1885.    There  could  scarcely  be 

278 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

said  to  exist  any  systematic  treatment,  or  extensive  com- 
mentary by  acknowledged  experts,  such  as  for  generations 
had  illuminated  the  theory  of  land  warfare.     Naval  his- 
tories abounded,  but  by  far  the  most  part  were  simply 
narratives.     Some  valuable  research,  however,  had   then 
recently  been  done;  notably  by  Captain  Chevalier,  of  the 
French  navy,  who  had  produced  from  French  documents 
a  history  of  the  maritime  war  connected  with  the  American 
struggle  for  independence.     This  he  followed  with  a  less 
exhaustive  account  of  the  wars  of  the  French  Revolution 
and  Empire,  which  also  appeared  in  time  for  me  to  use. 
These  were  marked   by  running   comment,  rather   than 
by  a  studied  criticism  such  as  that  of  Jomini  or  Napier, 
In  Great  Britain,  James  held,  and  I  think  still  holds,  the 
field  for  exhaustive  collection  of  information,  documentary 
or  oral  in  origin,  during  the  period  treated  by  him,  1793- 
1815;  but  he  has  not  a  mihtary  idea  in  his  head  beyond 
that  of  downright  hard  fighting,  punishing  and  being  pun- 
ished.    In  his  pages,  to  take  a  tactical  advantage  seems 
almost  a  disgrace.    The  Navy  Records  Society  of  Great 
Britain  had  not  then  begun  the  fruitful  labors  which  with- 
in the  last  decade  and  a  half  has  made  accessible  in  print 
a  very  large  amount  of  new  matter;  nor  had  the  late  Ad- 
miral Colomb  published  his  comprehensive  book.  Naval 
Warfare.    So  far  as  I  was  concerned,  the  old  works  of 
Lediard,  Entick,   Campbell,    Beatson, — in    French,   Paul 
Hoste,  Troude,  Guerin,  and  others  equally  remote, — had  to 
be  my  main  rehance;  though  numerous  modern  scattered 
monographs,  English  and  French,  were  existent.     In  con- 
nection with  these  one  of  my  most  interesting  experiences 
was  lighting  upon  a  paper  in  the  Revue  Maritime  et  Golo- 
niale,  describing  in  full  the  Four  Days'  battle  between  the 
English  and  Dutch  in  1666.     It  purported  to  be,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  was,  from  a  personal  letter  recently  discov- 
ered; but  I  subsequently  found  it  almost  word  for  word 

279 


FROM  SAIL  TO   STEAM 

in  the  Memoires  du  Gomte  de  Guiche,  also  a  participant, 
printed  in  1743.  This  Revue  contained  many  able  and 
suggestive  articles,  historical  and  professional,  as  did  the 
British  Journal  of  the  United  Service  Institution;  each  be- 
ing in  its  own  country  a  principal  medium  for  the  exchange 
of  professional  views.  Conspicuous  in  these  contributions 
to  naval  history  and  thought,  in  England,  were  Admiral 
Colomb  and  Professor  Laughton ;  upon  the  last  named  of 
whom,  since  these  words  were  first  written,  has  been  be- 
stowed the  honor  of  knighthood,  a  recognition  in  the  even- 
ing of  life  which  will  be  heartily  welcomed  by  his  many 
naval  friends  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  In  short, 
apart  from  the  first-hand  inquiry  which  I  did  not  yet  at- 
tempt, the  material  available  in  1885  was  chiefly  histories 
written  long  before,  supplemented  by  a  great  many  scat- 
tered papers  of  more  recent  date. 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  my  experience  I  will  say  a 
good  word  for  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Admirals,  so  far  as 
his  own  work — down  to  1744 — is  concerned.  Under  this 
title  it  is  really  a  history  of  the  British  navy,  very  well 
done  for  enabling  a  professional  man  to  understand  the 
naval  operations;  but,  more  than  this,  maritime  occurrences 
of  other  sorts,  commercial  movement,  and  naval  pohcy,  are 
presented  clearly,  and  with  sufficient  fuhiess  to  illustrate 
the  influence  of  sea  power  in  its  broadest  sense  upon  the 
general  history.  Bearing,  as  it  does,  strong  indications 
of  a  full  use  of  accessible  accounts,  contemporary  with 
the  events  narrated,  I  know  no  naval  work  superior  to  it 
for  lucidity  and  breadth  of  treatment.  Campbell  was  he 
of  whom  Dr.  Johnson  said:  "Campbell  is  a  good  man, 
a  pious  man;  I  am  afraid  he  has  not  been  inside  a  church 
for  many  years;  but  he  never  passes  a  church  without 
pulling  off  his  hat.    This  shows  he  has  good  principles." 

In  history  other  than  naval  I  was  for  my  object  as  fort- 
unate as  I  had  been  in  Lapeyrouse  -  Bonfils.    An  acci- 

280 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

dent  first  placed  in  my  hands  Henri  Martin's  History  of 
France.  I  happened  to  see  the  volumes,  then  unknown 
to  me,  on  the  shelves  of  a  friend.  The  English  translation 
of  Martin  covered  only  the  reigns  of  Louis  XIV.  and  XV., 
and  of  Louis  XVI.  to  1783,  the  close  of  the  War  of  American 
Independence.  The  scope  of  my  first  book,  The  Influence 
of  Sea  Power  u'pon  History,  coincides  precisely  with  this 
period,  and  may  thus  have  been  determined.  I  think, 
however,  that  the  beginning  of  the  work  was  fixed  for  me 
by  the  essentially  new  departure  in  the  history  of  Eng- 
land and  France,  connoted  by  the  almost  simultaneous 
accession  of  Charles  II.  and  Louis  XIV. ;  while  the  end  was 
dictated  by  the  necessity  to  stop  and  take  breath.  Be- 
sides, I  had  to  lecture,  which  for  the  moment  interrupted 
both  reading  and  writing.  The  particular  value  of  Martin 
to  me  was  the  attention  paid  by  him  to  commercial  and 
maritime  policy,  as  shown  in  those  frank  methods  of  na- 
tional regulation  which  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  characterized  all  governments,  but  were  to  be 
seen  in  their  simplest  and  most  efficient  executive  opera- 
tion in  an  absolute  monarchy.  A  more  advanced  age  may 
doubt  the  wisdom  of  such  manipulation  of  trade;  but  in 
the  hands  of  a  genius  like  Colbert  it  became  a  very  active 
and  powerful  force,  the  workings  of  which  were  the  more 
impressive  for  their  directness.  They  could  be  easily  fol- 
lowed. Whatever  Martin's  views  on  political  economy, 
he  was  in  profound  sympathy  with  Colbert  as  an  adminis- 
trator, and  enlarged  much  on  his  commercial  policy  as 
conducing  to  the  financial  stability  upon  which  that  great 
statesman  sought  to  found  the  primacy  of  his  country. 
To  one  as  ignorant  as  I  was  of  mercantile  movement,  the 
story  of  Colbert's  methods,  owing  to  their  pure  autocracy, 
was  a  kind  of  introductory  primer  to  this  element  of  sea 
power.  Thus  received,  the  impression  was  both  sharper 
and  deeper.    New  light  was  shed  upon,  and  new  emphasis 

281 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

given  to,  the  commonplace  assertion  of  the  relations  be- 
tween commerce  and  a  navy ;  civil  and  military  sea  power. 
While  I  have  no  claim  to  mastery  of  the  arguments  for  and 
against  free  trade  and  protection,  Colbert,  as  expomided 
by  Martin,  sent  me  in  later  days  to  the  study  of  trade 
statistics;  as  indicative  of  naval  or  political  conditions  de- 
flecting commercial  interchange,  and  influencing  national 
prosperity.  The  strong  interest  such  searches  had  for  me 
may  show  a  natural  bent,  and  certainly  conduced  to  the 
understanding  of  sea  power  in  its  broadest  sense.  Martin 
set  my  feet  in  the  way,  though  Campbell  helped  me  much 
by  incidental  mention. 

It  is  now  accepted  with  naval  and  military  men  who 
study  their  profession,  that  history  supplies  the  raw  ma- 
terial from  which  they  are  to  draw  their  lessons,  and  reaclj 
their  working  conclusions.  Its  teachings  are  not,  indeed, 
pedantic  precedents;  but  they  are  the  illustrations  of  liv- 
ing principles.  Napoleon  is  reported  to  have  said  that  on 
the  field  of  battle  the  happiest  inspiration  is  often  but  a 
recollection.  The  authority  of  Jomini  chiefly  set  me  to 
study  in  this  fashion  the  many  naval  histories  before  me. 
From  him  I  learned  the  few,  very  few,  leading  considera- 
tions in  military  combination;  and  in  these  I  found  the  key 
by  which,  using  the  record  of  sailing  navies  and  the  actions 
of  naval  leaders,  I  could  ehcit,  from  the  naval  history  upon 
which  I  had  looked  despondingly,  instruction  still  perti- 
nent. The  actual  course  of  the  several  campaigns,  or  of  the 
particular  battles,  I  worked  out  as  one  does  any  historical 
conclusion,  by  comparison  of  the  individual  witnesses  pre- 
sented in  the  several  accounts;  but  the  result  of  this  con- 
structive process  became  to  me  something  more  than  a 
narrative.  Both  the  general  outcome  and  the  separate  in- 
cidents passed  through  tests  which  formed  in  me  an  habit- 
ual critical  habit  of  mind.  My  judgments,  one  or  all,  might 
be  erroneous;  but,  right  or  wrong,  what  I  brought  before 

282 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

myself  was  no  mere  portrayal,  accurate  as  I  could  achieve, 
but  a  rational  whole,  of  composite  cause  and  effect,  with 
its  background  and  foreground,  its  centre  of  interest  and 
argument,  its  greater  and  smaller  details,  its  decisive  cul- 
mination; for  even  to  a  drawn  battle  or  a  neutral  issue 
there  is  something  which  definitely  prevented  success.  It 
was  the  same  with  questions  of  naval  policy.  Jomini's 
dictum,  that  the  organized  forces  of  the  enemy  are  ever 
the  chief  objective,  pierces  like  a  two-edged  sword  to  the 
joints  and  marrow  of  many  specious  propositions;  to  that 
of  the  French  postponement  of  immediate  action  to  "ul- 
terior objects,"  or  to  Jefferson's  rehance  upon  raw  citizen 
soldiery,  a  mob  ready  disorganized  to  the  enemy's  hands 
when  he  saw  fit  to  lay  on.  From  Jomini  also  I  imbibed 
a  fixed  disbelief  in  the  thoughtlessly  accepted  maxim 
that  the  statesman  and  general  occupy  unrelated  fields. 
For  this  misconception  I  substituted  a  tenet  of  my  own, 
that  war  is  simply  a  violent  pohtical  movement;  and  from 
an  expression  of  his,  "  The  sterile  glory  of  fighting  battles 
merely  to  win  them,"  I  deduced,  what  military  men  are 
prone  to  overlook,  that  "War  is  not  fighting,  but  busi- 
ness." 

It  was  with  such  hasty  equipment  that  I  approached  my 
self-assigned  task,  to  show  how  the  control  of  the  sea, 
commercial  and  military,  had  been  an  object  powerful  to 
influence  the  policies  of  nations;  and  equally  a  mighty 
factor  in  the  success  or  failure  of  those  policies.  This  re- 
mained my  guiding  aim;  but  incidentally  thereto  I  had  by 
this  determined  to  prepare  a  critical  analysis  of  the  naval 
campaigns  and  battles,  a  decision  for  which  I  had  to  thank 
Jomini  chiefly.  Tliis  would  constitute  in  measure  a  treat- 
ment of  the  art  of  naval  war;  not  formal,  nor  systematic, 
but  in  the  nature  of  commentary,  developing  and  illustrat- 
ing principles.  I  may  interject,  as  possibly  suggestive  to 
professional  men,  that  such  current  comment  on  historical 

283 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

events  will  lead  them  on,  as  it  led  me  irresistibly,  to  di- 
gest the  principles  thus  drawn  out;  reproducing  them  in 
concise  definitions,  applicable  to  the  varying  circum- 
stances of  naval  warfare, — an  elementary  treatise.  This 
I  did  also,  somewhat  later,  in  a  series  of  lectures ;  which, 
though  necessarily  rudimentary,  I  understand  still  form 
a  groundwork  of  instruction  at  the  War  College.  For 
the  framework  of  general  history,  which  was  to  serve  as 
a  setting  to  my  particular  thesis,  I  relied  upon  the  usual 
accredited  histories  of  the  period,  as  I  did  upon  equally 
well-known  professional  histories  for  the  nautical  details. 
The  subject  lay  so  much  on  the  surface  that  my  hand- 
ling of  it  could  scarcely  suffer  materially  from  possible 
future  discoveries.  What  such  or  such  an  unknown  man 
had  said  or  done  on  some  back-stairs,  or  written  to  some 
unknown  correspondent,  if  it  came  to  light,  was  not  hkely 
to  affect  the  received  story  of  the  external  course  of  mili- 
tary or  political  events.  Did  I  make  a  mistake  in  the 
detail  of  some  battle,  as  I  got  one  fleet  on  the  wrong  tack 
in  Byng's  action,  or  as  in  the  much-argued  case  of  Torring- 
ton  at  Beachy  Head,  it  would  for  my  leading  purpose  do 
little  more  harm  than  a  minor  tactical  error  does  to  the 
outcome  of  a  large  strategic  plan,  when  accurately  con- 
ceived. As  a  colleague  phrased  it  to  me,  speaking  of  the 
cautious  dehberation  of  some  men,  "  A  second-best  position 
to-day  is  better  than  a  first-best  to-morrow,  when  the  occa- 
sion has  passed."  Strike  while  the  iron  is  hot!  and  be- 
tween reading  and  thinking  my  iron  was  very  hot  by  the 
time  I  laid  it  on  the  anvil.  Moreover,  I  had  to  meet  the 
emergency  of  lecturing,  one  of  the  main  reliances  of  our 
incipient  undertaking. 

I  had  begun  my  reading  with  Lapeyrouse  -  Bonfils,  in 
October,  1885.  The  preceding  summer  at  Panama  had 
so  far  affected  my  health  as  to  cause  a  month's  severe 
illness  in  the  winter;  and  when  recovered  I  unguardedly 

284 


THE  TURNING   OF  A   LONG   LANE 

let  myself  in  for  another  month's  work,  on  naval  tactics, 
which  might  have  been  postponed.  Hence  the  end  of  the 
following  May  had  arrived  before  I  began  to  write;  but 
I  was  so  full  of  matter,  absorbed  or  evolved,  that  I  ran 
along  with  steady  pace,  and  by  September  had  on  paper, 
in  lecture  form,  all  of  my  first  Sea  Power  book,  except  the 
summary  of  conclusions  which  constitutes  the  final,  chap- 
ter. Before  publication,  in  1890,  the  whole  had  been  very 
carefully  revised ;  but  the  changes  made  were  mostly  in  the 
details  of  battles,  or  else  verbal  in  character,  to  develop 
discussions  in  amphtude  or  clearness.  Battles  had  been 
to  me  at  first  a  secondary  consideration;  hence  for  revision 
I  had  accumulated  many  fresh  data,  notably  from  two 
somewhat  scarce  books :  Naval  Battles  in  the  West  Indies, 
by  Lieutenant  Matthews,  and  Naval  Researches,  by  Captain 
Thomas  White,  British  officers  contemporary  and  partici- 
pant in  the  events  which  they  narrate  of  the  War  of  Amer- 
ican Independence. 

A  lecturer  is  little  hampered  by  the  exactions  of  style; 
indeed,  the  less  he  ties  himself  to  his  manuscript,  the  more 
he  can  talk  to  his  audience  rather  than  read,  and  the  more 
freely  his  command  of  his  subject  permits  him  to  digress 
pertinently,  the  better  he  holds  attention.  When  I  found 
after  my  first  course  that  the  treatment  was  to  my  hearers 
interesting  as  well  as  novel,  the  thought  of  publishing  en- 
tered my  mind;  and  while  I  had  no  expectation  or  am- 
bition to  become  a  stylist,  the  question  of  style  gradually 
forced  itself  on  my  consideration.  I  intend  to  state  some 
of  my  conclusions,  because  the  casual  remarks  of  others, 
authors  or  critics,  have  been  helpful  to  me.  Why  should 
not  style  as  well  as  war  have  its  history  and  biography,  to 
which  each  man  may  contribute  an  unpretentious  mite? 
Notably,  I  got  much  comfort  from  Darwin's  complaint  of 
frequent  recurrences  of  inability  to  give  adequate  expres- 
sion to  thoughts,  which  he  could  then  put  down  only  in 
^9  285 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

such  crude,  imperfect  form  as  the  moment  suggested,  leav- 
ing the  task  of  elaboration  to  a  more  propitious  season. 
If  so  great  a  man  was  thus  troubled,  no  strange  thing  was 
happening  to  me  in  a  like  experience.  Such  good  cheer  in 
intellectual  as  well  as  moral  effort  is  one  of  the  best  ser- 
vices of  biography  and  history,  raising  to  the  rank  of  min- 
istering spirits  the  men  whose  struggles  and  success  they 
tell.  Was  not  Washington  greater  at  Valley  Forge  than 
at  Yorktown?  and  Nelson  beating  against  a  head  wind 
than  at  Trafalgar?  Johnson  has  anticipated  Darwin's 
method  in  advice  given  in  his  Gargantuan  manner :  "  Do 
not  exact  from  yourself,  at  one  effort  of  excogitation,  pro- 
priety of  thought  and  elegance  of  expression.  Invent  first, 
and  then  embellish.  The  production  of  something,  where 
nothing  was  before,  is  an  act  of  greater  energy  than  the  ex- 
pansion or  decoration  of  the  thing  produced.  Set  down 
diligently  your  thoughts  as  they  arise  in  the  first  words 
that  occur,  and,  when  you  have  matter,  you  will  easily  give 
it  form."  To  Trollope  I  owed  a  somewhat  different  prac- 
tical maxim.  His  theory  was  that  a  man  could  turn  out 
manuscript  as  steadily  as  a  shoemaker  shoes — his  precise 
simile,  if  I  remember;  and  he  prided  himself  on  penning 
his  full  tale  each  day.  I  could  not  subscribe  to  this,  and 
think  that  Trollope's  work,  of  which  I  am  fond,  shows  the 
bad  effect;  but  I  did  imbibe  a  contempt  for  yielding  to  the 
feeling  of  incapacity,  and  put  myself  steadily  to  my  desk 
for  my  allotted  time,  writing  what  I  could.  AVhether  the 
result  were  ten  words  or  ten  hundred  I  tried  to  regard 
with  equanimity. 

I  have  never  purposely  attempted  to  imitate  the  style 
of  any  writer,  though  I  unscrupulously  plagiarize  an  apt 
expression.  But  gradually,  and  almost  unconsciously,  I 
formed  a  habit  of  closely  scrutinizing  the  construction  of 
sentences  by  others ;  generally  a  fault-finding  habit.  As  I 
progressed,  I  worked  out  a  theory  for  myself,  just  as  I  had 

286 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

the  theory  of  the  influence  of  sea  power.  Style,  I  said,  has 
two  sides.  It  is  first  and  above  all  the  expression  of  a 
man's  personality,  as  characteristic  as  any  other  trait;  or, 
as  some  one  has  said — was  it  Buff  on? — style  is  the  man 
himself.  From  this  point  of  view  it  is  susceptible  of  train- 
ing, of  development,  or  of  pruning;  but  to  attempt  to 
pattern  it  on  that  of  another  person  is  a  mistake.  For  one 
chance  of  success  there  are  a  dozen  of  failure;  for  you  are 
trying  to  raise  a  special  product  from  a  soil  probably  un- 
congenial, or  a  fruit  from  an  alien  stem — figs  from  vines. 
But  beyond  this  there  is  to  style  an  artificial  element,  which 
I  conceive  to  be  indicated  by  the  word  technique  as  applied 
to  the  arts;  though  it  is  possible  that  I  misapprehend  the 
term,  being  ignorant  of  art.  In  authorship  I  understand 
by  technique  mainly  the  correct  construction  of  periods, 
by  the  proper  collocation  of  their  parts.  I  subscribe 
heartily  to  the  opinion  I  have  seen  attributed  to  Steven- 
son, that  everything  depends  upon  the  order  of  the  words; 
and  this,  in  my  judgment,  should  make  the  sentence  as 
nearly  as  possible  independent  of  punctuation. 

Further,  there  are  many  awkwardnesses  of  expression 
which  proper  training  or  subsequent  practice  can  eliminate; 
and  in  proportion  as  a  writer  attains  the  faculty  of  in- 
stinctively avoiding  these,  his  technique  improves.  Per- 
fected, he  would  never  use  them,  and  his  sentences  would 
flow  imtaught  from  his  pen  in  absolutely  clear  reflection  of 
his  thought.  As  an  example  of  what  I  mean  by  awkward- 
nesses, I  would  cite  the  use  of  "whose"  as  the  possessive 
of  "which."  I  know  that  adequate  authority  pronounces 
this  correct,  so  it  is  not  on  that  score  I  reject  it.  Moreover, 
I  recognize  that  in  myself  the  repulsion  is  somewhat  of  an 
acquired  taste.  When  I  began  to  write  I  thus  employed  it 
myself,  but  its  sound  is  so  inevitably  suggestive  of  "who" 
as  to  constitute  an  impertinence  of  association.  I  have 
lately  been  reading  a  very  excellent  history  of  the  United 

287 


FROM  SAIL  TO   STEAM 

States,  in  which  the  frequent  repetition  of  "whose"  in 
this  sense  causes  me  the  sensation  of  perpetually  "stub- 
bing" my  toe;  an  Americanism,  which,  I  will  explain  to 
any  British  reader,  means  stumbling  over  roots  or  on  an 
unequal  pavement,  the  irritation  of  which  needs  not  ex- 
position. 

In  the  matter  of  natural  style  I  soon  discovered  that  the 
besetting  anxiety  of  my  soul  was  to  be  exact  and  lucid. 
I  might  not  succeed,  but  my  wish  was  indisputable.  To 
be  accurate  in  facts  and  correct  in  conclusions,  both  as  to 
appreciation  and  expression,  dominated  all  other  motives. 
This  had  a  weak  side.  I  was  nervously  susceptible  .to 
being  convicted  of  a  mistake;  it  upset  me,  as  they  say. 
Even  where  a  man  writes,  this  is  a  defect  of  a  quality;  in 
active  life  it  entails  slowness  of  decision  and  procrastina- 
tion, failure  "  to  get  there."  I  have  no  doubt  that  much 
contemporary  writing  suffers  delay  from  a  Uke  morbid 
dread  as  to  possibility  of  error.  The  aim  to  be  thus  both 
accurate  and  clear  often  encumbered  my  sentences.  My 
cautious  mind  strove  to  introduce  between  the  same  two 
periods  every  qualification,  whether  in  abatement  or  en- 
forcement of  the  leading  idea  or  statement.  This  in  many 
cases  meant  an  accumulation  of  clauses,  over  which  I  ex- 
ercised my  ingenuity  and  lavished  my  time  so  to  arrange 
them  that  the  whole  should  be  at  once  apprehended  by 
the  reader.  It  was  not  enough  for  me  that  the  qualifi- 
cations should  appear  a  page  or  two  before,  or  after,  and 
in  this  I  think  myself  right;  but  in  wanting  them  all  in 
the  same  period,  as  I  instinctively  did, — and  do,  for  nat- 
ure is  obstinate, — I  have  imposed  on  myself  needless  labor, 
and  have  often  taxed  attention  as  an  author  has  no  right 
to  do.  Unless  under  pressing  necessity,  I  myself  will  not 
be  at  pains  to  read  what  I  can  with  difficulty  understand. 

It  is  to  this  anxiety  for  full  and  accurate  development 
of  statements  and  ideas  that  I  chiefly  attribute  a  diffuse- 

288 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

ness  with  which  my  writing  has  been  reproached;  I  have 
no  doubt  justly.  I  have  not,  however,  tried  to  check  the 
evil  at  the  root.  I  am  built  that  way,  and  think  that  way; 
all  round  a  subject,  as  far  as  I  can  see  it.  I  am  uneasy  if 
a  presentment  err  by  defect,  by  excess,  or  by  obscurity  ap- 
parent to  myself.  I  must  get  the  whole  in;  and  for  due 
emphasis  am  very  probably  redundant.  I  am  not  wilHng 
to  attempt  seriously  modifying  my  natural  style,  the  re- 
flection of  myself,  lest,  while  digging  up  the  tares  of  pro- 
lixity I  root  up  also  the  wheat  of  precision.  The  difference 
emphasized  by  Dr.  Johnson,  "between  notions  borrowed 
from  without  and  notions  generated  within,"  seems  to  me 
to  apply  to  the  mode  of  expression  as  well  as  to  the  idea 
expressed.  The  two  spring  from  the  same  source,  and  cor- 
respond. You  impress  more  forcibly  by  retaining  your 
native  manner  of  statement;  chastened  where  necessary, 
but  not  defaced  by  an  imitation,  even  of  a  self-erected,  yet 
artificial,  standard.  It  does  not  do  to  meddle  too  much 
with  yourself.  But  I  do  resort  to  a  weeding  process  in 
revising ;  a  verb  or  an  adjective,  an  expletive  or  a  superla- 
tive, is  dragged  out  and  cast  away.  Even  so,  as  often  as 
not,  I  have  to  add.  The  words  above,  "  as  far  as  I  can  see 
it,"  have  just  been  put  in.  Of  course,  in  the  interest  of 
readers,  I  resort  to  breaking  up  sentences;  but  to  me  per- 
sonally the  result  is  usually  distasteful.  The  reader  takes 
hold  more  easily,  as  a  child  learns  spelhng  by  division  into 
syllables;  but  I  am  conscious  that  instead  of  my  thoughts 
constituting  a  group  mutually  related,  and  so  reproducing 
the  essential  me,  they  are  disjointed  and  must  be  reassem- 
bled by  others. 

A  man  untrained  in  youth,  and  who  has  never  sys- 
tematically sought  to  repair  the  defect,  can  scarcely  hope 
fully  to  compass  technique  in  style.  He  will  thus  lose 
some  part  of  that  which  he  may  gain  by  being  more  nearly 
his  natural  self;  for  there  is  a  real  gain  in  this.    Such  ad- 

289 


FROM   SAIL  TO  STEAM 

vance  as  I  have  made  in  technique — and  I  trust  I  have 
made  some — I  have  owed  to  the  critical  running  analysis 
of  the  construction  of  sentences,  which  has  been  my  habit 
ever  since  I  began  to  write.  That  this  is  constant  with 
me,  subconsciously,  is  shown  by  the  frequency  with  which 
it  passes  into  a  conscious  logical  recasting  of  what  I  read. 
To  get  antecedents  and  consequents  as  near  one  another  as 
possible ;  qualifying  words  or  phrases  as  close  as  may  be  to 
that  which  they  qualify;  an  object  near  its  verb;  to  avoid 
an  adjective  which  applies  to  one  of  two  nouns  being  so 
placed  as  to  seem  to  quahfy  both;  such  minute  details 
seem  to  me  worthy  of  the  utmost  care,  and  I  think  I  can 
trace  advance  in  these  respects.  My  experiments  tend  to 
show  that  the  natural  order  of  nominative,  verb,  object,  is 
usually  preferable;  and  as  a  rule  I  find  that  adverbs  and 
adverbial  phrases  fall  best  between  nominative  and  verb. 
Still,  the  desirability  of  tying  each  period  to  its  prede- 
cessor, as  does  the  rhyme  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  lines 
of  a  sonnet,  will  modify  arrangement.  In  reading  another 
author,  where  such  precaution  as  I  name  is  neglected,  a 
word  misplaced  in  its  relation  to  the  others  of  the  sentence 
runs  my  mind  off  the  track,  like  an  engine  on  a  misplaced 
switch,  and  I  dislike  the  trouble  of  backing  to  get  on  the 
right  rails.  It  is  the  same  with  my  own  work,  if  time 
enough  elapses  between  composition  and  subsequent  read- 
ing. Generally  I  make  such  time,  either  in  manuscript  .or 
proofs;  but  I  am  chagrined  when  I  meet  sUps  in  the  printed 
page,  as  I  too  often  do.  There  is  no  provision  against  such 
fault  equal  to  laying  the  text  aside  till  it  has  become  un- 
familiar; but  even  this  is  not  certain,  for  construction,  being 
consonant  to  your  permanent  mode  of  thinking,  may  not 
when  erroneous  jar  upon  you  as  upon  another. 

In  acquiring  an  automatic  habit,  which  technique  should 
become,  principles  tend  to  crystallize  into  rules,  and  a  few 
such  I  have;  counsels  of  perfection  many  of  these,  too 

290 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  T.ONG  LANE 

often  unrealized.  I  do  not  like  the  same  word  repeated  in 
the  same  paragraph,  though  this  lays  a  heavy  tax  on  so- 
called  synonymes.  Assonances  jar  me,  even  two  termi- 
nations "tion"  near  together.  I  will  not  knowingly  use 
"that"  for  "which,"  except  to  avoid  two  "whiches"  be- 
tween the  same  two  periods.  The  split  infinitive  I  abhor, 
more  as  a  matter  of  taste  than  argument.  I  recognize  that 
it  is  at  times  very  tempting  to  snuggle  the  adverb  so  close 
to  the  verb ;  but  I  hold  fast  my  integrity.  Once,  indeed,  I 
took  it  into  my  head  not  to  spHt  compound  tenses,  and 
carried  this  fad  somewhat  remorselessly  through  a  series 
of  republished  articles;  but  the  result  has  not  pleased  me. 
Boswell  tells  us  that  Johnson  would  have  none  of  "former" 
and  "latter;"  that  he  would  rather  repeat  the  noun  than 
resort  to  this  subterfuge.  I  see  no  good  reason  for  re- 
jecting these  convenient  alternatives;  but  nevertheless  I 
have  obsequiously  bowed  to  the  autocrat  and  taken  a 
skunner  to  the  words  —  the  only  literary  snobbishness  of 
which  I  am  conscious.  I  can  stand  out  against  Macaulay's 
proscription  of  prepositions  ending  sentences.  Although 
I  generally  twist  them  round,  they  often  please  my. ear 
there.  It  is  not  exactly  in  point,  but  I  have  always  re- 
joiced over  "Silver  was  nothing  accounted  of"  in  the  days 
of  King  Solomon;  indeed,  I  was  brought  to  book  by  a  proof- 
reader for  concluding  a  sentence  with  "accounted  of."  I 
let  it  stand,  so  taking  was  it  to  me. 

The  question  doubtless  occurs  to  most  authors  how  far 
they  are  under  bonds  to  the  King's  English.  As  to  gram- 
mar, I  submit;  the  consequences  of  anarchy  dismay  me; 
but  I  question  whether  in  words  coinage  is  an  attribute  of 
sovereignty.  There  is,  of  course,  plenty  of  false  money  go- 
ing around,  current  because  accepted;  but  I  think  a  man 
is  at  liberty  to  pass  a  new  word,  a  word  without  authority 
in  dictionaries,  if  it  be  congruous  to  standard  etymology. 
I  once  wrote  "eventless;"  but,  on  looking,  found  it  not. 

291 


FROM  SAIL  TO   STEAM 

Yet  why  not?  "Homeless,"  "heartless/'  "shoeless,"  etc.; 
why  merely  "imeventful,"  a  form  only  one  letter  longer, 
it  is  true,  but  built  up  to  "eventful"  to  be  pulled  down 
to  "mieventful"?  Besides,  "uneventful"  does  not  mean 
the  same  as  "eventless."  "Doubtless"  and  "undoubted- 
ly" differ  by  more  than  a  shade  in  sense,  and  we  have 
both.  So  we  have  "anywhere,"  "nowhere,"  "somewhere," 
"everywhere;"  why  not  "manywhere,"  if  you  need  it? 
Again,  if  "hitherto"  be  good — and  it  is — why  not  "thith- 
erto"? In  the  case  of  "eccentric"  as  a  mihtary  term,  I 
felt  forced  to  frame  "ex-centric;"  the  former — I  ask  Dr. 
Johnson's  pardon — has,  in  America  at  least,  become  so 
exclusively  associated  with  the  secondary  though  cognate 
idea  of  singularity  that  it  would  not  convey  its  restricted 
military  significance  to  a  lay  reader. 

I  had  been  assigned  to  the  War  College  in  October,  1885, 
Admiral  Luce  being  still  its  president,  but  I  did  not  go 
into  residence  until  the  end  of  the  following  August.  Luce 
had  then  been  for  some  months  detached,  to  command  the 
North  Atlantic  fleet,  and  I  had  succeeded  him  by  default, 
without  special  orders  that  I  can  remember.  He  was 
anxious  for  me  to  live  on  the  spot,  to  be  "on  deck,"  as  he 
phrased  it,  for  the  College  had  many  enemies  and  few 
friends;  and  matters  were  not  helped  by  a  sharp  official 
collision  that  summer  between  him  and  Secretary  Whit- 
ney, who  from  indifference  passed  into  antagonism.  I  can- 
not say  that  his  change  was  due  to  this  cause,  and  for  a 
long  time  his  hostility  did  not  take  form  in  act.  Now 
that  the  College,  after  twenty  years,  has  had  the  warm  en- 
comium of  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  his  mes- 
sage to  Congress,  it  is  interesting  to  a  veteran  recipient 
of  its  early  buffets  to  recall  conditions.  In  my  two  years' 
incumbency  we  got  decidedly  more  kicks  than  halfpence. 
Yet  in  retrospect  it  gains.  A  prominent  New  York  lawyer 
once  told  me  of  a  young  man  from  a  distant  State  con- 

292 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG   LANE 

suiting  him  with  a  view  to  practising  in  the  city.  In  re- 
sponse to  some  cautious  warning  as  to  the  difficulties,  Ik; 
said :  "  Do  you  mean  that  with  my  education  and  capacity 
I  cannot  expect  rapid  success?"  "I  fear  not,"  replied  the 
mentor.  A  few  months  later  they  met  casually.  "Are 
you  getting  on  as  fast  as  you  had  hoped?"  asked  the 
older  man,  "No,"  admitted  the  other,  "but  it's  heaps  of 
fun."  He  doubtless  got  on,  and  so  did  the  College.  I  at 
the  time  was  less  appreciative  of  the  fun,  but  I  liked  the 
work,  and  now  I  see  also  the  comical  side. 

Between  the  early  favor  of  the  Department  and  his  own 
energy.  Luce  had  given  the  College  a  good  send-off,  like  a 
skiff  shoved  by  hand  from  the  wharf  into  mid -stream. 
There  remained  only  to  keep  it  moving.  We  had  an  ap- 
propriation, and  a  building  that  was  ready  for  lecturing ; 
with  also  two  as  yet  uncompleted  suites  of  quarters,  for 
myself  and  one  other  officer.  We  had  also  a  very  respect- 
able library,  in  which,  among  many  valuable  works,  con- 
spicuously selected  with  an  eye  to  our  special  olDJects,  I 
recall  with  amusement  certain  ancient  encyclopaedias,  con- 
tributed apparently  by  well-wishers  from  stock  which  had 
begun  to  encumber  their  shelves.  Howbeit,  like  Quaker 
guns,  these  made  a  brave  show  if  not  too  closely  scrutinized, 
and  spared  us  the  semblance  of  poverty  in  vacant  spaces. 
Every  military  man  understands  the  value  of  an  imposing 
front  towards  the  enemy.  When  I  arrived,  I  was  the  sole 
occupant  of  the  building;  and  except  an  army  officer — 
now  General  Tasker  Bliss  —  was  the  only  attache.  As  I 
walked  round  the  lonely  halls  and  stairways,  I  might  have 
parodied  Louis  XIV.,  and  said,  "  Le  College,  c'est  moi."  I 
had,  indeed,  an  excellent  steward,  who  attended  to  my  meals 
and  made  my  bed.  There  was  but  one  lamp  available, 
which  I  had  to  carry  with  me  when  I  went  from  room  to 
room  by  night;  and,  indeed,  except  for  the  roof  over  my 
head,  I  might  be  said  to  be  "camping  out."    There  was 

293 


FROM  SAIL  TO   STEAM 

yet  a  month  before  the  class  of  officers  was  to  arrive.  This 
interval  was  more  than  occupied  preparing  the  necessary 
maps  for  my  lectures,  much  of  the  time  by  my  lonely  light. 
Owing  to  lack  of  regular  assistance,  a  great  part  of  the  map 
work  was  done  by  my  own  hands,  often  sprawled  on  the  floor 
as  my  best  table;  though  I  was  fortunate  in  receiving 
much  voluntary  help  from  a  retired  heutenant,  now  Cap- 
tain McCarty  Little,  then  and  always  an  enthusiastic  advo- 
cate of  the  College,  who  did  some  of  the  drafting  and  all 
the  coloring.  Thus  were  put  together  three  of  the  four 
maps  which  afterwards  appeared  in  my  first  book.  The 
fourth,  of  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean,  was  begged  of  the 
hydrographer  of  the  navy;  a  friendly  Rhode  Island  man. 

Besides  the  maps,  there  were  to  be  produced  some  twenty 
or  more  battle  plans.  For  these  I  hit  on  a  device  which  I 
can  recommend.  I  cut  out  a  number  of  cardboard  vessels, 
of  different  colors  for  the  contending  navies,  and  these  I 
moved  about  on  a  sheet  of  drawing-paper  until  satisfied 
that  the  graphic  presentation  corresponded  with  facts  and 
conditions.  They  were  then  fastened  in  place  with  muci- 
lage. This  saved  a  great  deal  of  drawing  in  and  rubbing  out, 
and  by  using  complementary  colors  gave  vivid  impression. 
In  combats  of  sailing  fleets  you  must  look  out  sharp,  or 
in  some  arrangement,  otherwise  plausible,  you  will  have 
a  ship  saiUng  within  four  points  of  the  wind  before  you 
know  it.  Nor  is  this  the  only  way  truth  may  be  insulted. 
Times  and  distances  also  lay  snares  for  incautious  steps.  I 
noticed  once  in  an  account  of  an  action  two  times,  with 
corresponding  positions,  which  made  a  frigate  in  the  mean- 
while run  at  eighteen  knots  under  topsails. 

By  such  shifts  we  scrambled  along  as  best  we  could  our 
first  year,  content  with  beef  without  horseradish,  as  Sam 
Weller  has  it;  hitching  up  with  rope  when  a  trace  gave 
way,  in  the  blessed  condition  of  those  who  are  not  expect- 
ing favors.    But  worse  was  to  come.    Besides  the  general 

294 


V 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

offence  against  conservatism  by  bging  a  new  thing,  the 
College  specifically  had  poached  its  building  from  another 
manor.  It  stood  upon  the  grounds  of  the  Naval  Training 
Station,  for  apprentices,  which  considered  itself  defrauded 
of  property  and  intruded  upon  by  an  alien  jurisdiction — 
an  imperium  in  imperio.  The  two  were  not  even  under 
the  same  bureau,  so  the  antagonism  existed  in  Washington 
as  well  as  locally;  and  now  a  Secretary  of  malevolent  neu- 
trahty.  Truly  some  one  was  needed  "on  deck;"  though 
just  what  he  could  do  with  such  a  barometer  did  not  ap- 
pear, unless  he  bore  up  under  short  canvas,  Hke  Nelson, 
who  "made  it  a  rule  never  to  fight  the  northwesters." 
And  such  was  very  much  our  pohcy;  reefed  close  down, 
looking  out  for  squalls  at  any  moment  from  any  quarter, 
saying  nothing  to  nobody,  content  to  be  let  alone,  if  only 
we  might  be  so  let.  Small  sail;  and  no  weather  helm,  if 
you  please.  One  most  alleviating  circumstance  was  the 
commandant  of  the  training  station,  the  local  enemy,  one 
of  the  born  saints  of  the  earth,  Arthur  Yates.  Officially,  of 
course  he  disapproved  of  us;  professional  self-respect  and 
precedent,  bureau  allegiance,  and  all  the  rest  of  it,  were 
outraged;  but  when  it  came  to  deeds,  Yates  could  not 
have  imagined  an  unkind  act,  much  less  done  it.  Nor  did 
he  stop  there ;  good-will  with  him  was  not  a  negative  but 
an  active  quality.  What  we  wanted  he  would  always  do, 
and  then  go  one  better,  if  he  could  find  a  way  to  add  to 
our  convenience;  and  when  we  ultimately  came  to  grief, 
after  his  departure,  he  wrote  me  a  letter  of  condolence. 
Altogether,  while  clouds  were  gathering  in  Washington,  it 
was  perpetual  smishine  at  home  as  to  official  and  personal 
relations.  I  have  no  doubt  he  would  have  drawn  maps 
for  me  had  I  asked  it. 

None  the  less,  trouble  was  at  hand.  In  1886  we  had  a 
session  which  by  general  consent  was  very  successful  in 
quality,  if  not  in  quantity,  lasting  little  over  two  months. 

295 


FROM  SAIL   TO   STEAM 

Our  own  bureau  controlled  the  ordering  of  officers,  so  it 
swept  together  a  sufficient  number  to  form  a  class.  We 
had  several  excellent  series  of  lectures:  on  Gunnery  in  its 
higher  practical  aspects,  by  Lieutenant  Meigs,  who  has 
since  left  the  navy  for  a  responsible  position  in  the  Bethle- 
hem Iron  Works;  on  International  Law,  by  Professor  Soley, 
who  under  the  next  administration  became  Assistant-Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy;  on  Naval  Hygiene,  by  a  naval  surgeon, 
Dr.  Dean;  together  with  others  less  notable.  All  these  had 
been  contracted  for  by  Luce.  Captain  Bliss  and  myself, 
as  yet  the  only  two  permanent  attaches,  of  course  took  our 
share.  So  much  was  new  to  the  officers  in  attendance,  not 
only  in  details  but  in  principle,  that  I  am  satisfied  nine- 
tenths  of  them  went  away  friendly;  some  enthusiastic. 
The  College  had  steered  clear  of  any  appearance  of  scientific, 
or  so-called  post-graduate,  instruction,  consecutive  with 
that  given  at  Annapolis;  and  had  demonstrated  that  it 
meant  to  deal  only  with  questions  pertinent  to  the  success- 
ful carrying-on  of  war,  for  promoting  which  no  instrumen- 
tality existed  elsewhere.  The  want  had  been  proved,  and 
a  means  of  filling  it  offered.  The  listeners  had  been  per- 
suaded. * 

I  well  remember  my  own  elation  when  they  went  away 
in  the  latter  part  of  November.  Success  had  surpassed 
expectation.  But  in  a  fortnight  Congress  met,  and  it  soon 
became  evident  that  we  were  to  be  starved  out, — no  ap- 
propriation. It  was  a  short  session,  too;  scant  time  for 
fighting.  I  went  to  Washington,  and  pleaded  with  the 
chairman  of  the  House  naval  committee,  Mr.  Herbert; 
but  while  he  was  perfectly  good-natured,  and  we  have 
from  then  been  on  pleasant  terms,  whenever  he  saw  me 
he  set  his  teeth  and  compressed  his  hps.  His  argument 
was:  Once  establish  an  institution,  and  it  grows;  more 
and  more  every  year.  There  must  be  economy,  and  no- 
where is  economy  so  effectually  applied  as  to  the  begin- 

296 


THE  TURNING  OF  A   LONG  LANE 

nings.  In  vain  did  I  try  to  divert  his  thoughts  to  the 
magnificent  endings  that  would  come  from  the  paltry  ten 
thousand  the  College  asked.  He  stopped  his  cars,  like 
Ulysses,  and  kept  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  necessity  of  strang- 
ling vipers  in  their  cradle.  In  vain  were  my  efforts  sec- 
onded by  General  Joe  Wheeler,  also  a  representative  from 
Alabama,'  and  strongly  S3mipathetic  with  military  thought. 
No  help  could  be  expected  from  the  Secretary,  and  we  got 
no  funds. 

The  fiscal  year  would  end  June  30,  1887.  It  was  of  no 
use  to  try  saving  from  the  current  balance,  for  by  law  that 
must  be  turned  in  at  the  year's  end.  So  we  shrugged  our 
shoulders  and  trusted  to  luck,  which  came  to  our  assistance 
in  a  comical  manner.  For  summer  we  were  all  right,  or 
nearly  so;  but  winter  might  freeze  us  out.  Still,  unless  the 
Secretary  saw  fit  to  destroy  the  College  by  executive  order, 
it  had  a  right  to  be  warm;  so  we  sent  in  our  requisition 
for  heating  the  building.  It  went  through  the  customary 
channels,  was  approved,  and  the  coal  in  the  cellars  before 
the  Department  noticed  that  there  was  no  appropriation 
against  which  to  charge  it.  Upon  reference  to  the  Secre- 
tary, he  decided  thS,t  the  coal  had  been  ordered  and  sup- 
plied in  good  faith,  and  should  be  left  and  paid  for.  In 
fact,  however,  if  the  building  was  used  it  would  have  to 
be  heated;  the  decision  practically  was  to  let  the  College 
retain  the  building.  It  was  an  excellent  occasion  to  wipe 
us  out  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  but  Mr.  Whitney  had  not 
yet  reached  that  point.  The  fuel,  I  think,  was  charged  to 
the  bureau  to  which  the  Training  Station  belonged,  which 
would  not  tend  to  mollify  its  feelings. 

Coal  was  our  prime  necessity,  but  it  was  not  all.  The 
hostile  interest  now  began  to  cut  us  short  in  the  various 
items  which  contribute  to  the  daily  bread  of  a  government 
institution.  We  lived  the  year  from  hand  to  mouth. 
From  the  repairs  put  on  the  building  a  twelvemonth  before 

297 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

there  was  left  a  lot  of  n^fuse  scrap  lying  about.  This  we 
collected  and  sorted,  selling  what  was  available,  on  the 
principle  of  slush-money.  Slush,  the  non-professional  may 
be  told,  is  the  grease  arising  from  the  cooking  of  salt  pro- 
visions. By  old  custom  this  was  collected,  barrelled,  and 
sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  ship.  The  price  remained  in  the 
first  lieutenant's  hands,  to  be  expended  for  the  vessel; 
usually  going  for  beautifying.  What  we  sold  at  the  Col- 
lege we  thus  used;  not  for  beautifying,  which  was  far  be- 
yond us,  but  to  keep  things  together.  This  proceeding  was 
irregular,  and  for  years  I  preserved  with  nervous  care  the 
memoranda  of  what  became  of  the  money,  in  case  of  being 
questioned;  although  I  do  not  think  the  total  went  much 
beyond  a  hundred  dollars.  It  is  surprising  how  much  a 
hundred  dollars  may  be  made  to  do.  For  our  lectures  the 
hydrographer  again  made  for  the  College  two  very  large 
and  handsome  maps. 

The  session  of  1887  was  longer  and  more  complete  than 
the  year  before;  but  specifically  it  increased  our  good  re- 
port in  the  service  and  added  to  us  hosts  of  friends.  Many 
were  now  ready  to  speak  in  our  favor,  if  asked;  and  some 
gave  themselves  a  good  deal  of»trouble  to  see  this  or  that 
person  of  importance.  Tliis  was  a  powerful  reinforcement 
for  the  approaching  struggle ;  but  with  the  Secretary  biassed 
against  us,  and  resolute  opposition  from  the  chairman  of 
the  committee,  the  odds  were  heavy.  Mr.  Whitney  showed 
me  a  frowning  countenance,  quite  unlike  his  usual  bon- 
homie; and  yielded  only  a  reluctant,  almost  surly,  "  I  will 
not  oppose  you,  but  I  do  not  authorize  you  to  express 
any  approval  from  me."  With  that  we  began  a  still  hunt; 
not  from  policy,  but  because  no  other  course  was  open, 
and  by  degrees  we  converted  all  the  conmiittee  but  three. 
This  was  quite  an  achievement  in  its  way;  for,  as  one  of 
the  members  said  to  me,  "  It  is  rather  hard  to  oppose  the 
chairman  in  a  matter  of  this  kind.    Still,  I  am  satisfied  it 

298 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

is  a  good  thing,  and  I  will  vote  for  it."  So  we  got  our  ap- 
propriation by  a  big  majority.  Mr.  Herbert  was  very  nice 
about  his  discomfiture.  That  a  set  of  uninfluential  naval 
officers' should  so  unexpectedly  have  got  the  better  of  him, 
in  his  position,  had  a  humorous  side  which  he  was  ready 
to  see;  though  it  is  possible  we,  on  whose  side  the  laugh 
was,  enjoyed  it  more.  He  afterwards,  when  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  came  to  think  much  better  of  the  College,  which 
flourished  under  him. 

I  had  soon  to  find  that  my  mouth  had  more  than  one 
side  on  which  to  laugh.  Confident  that  we  were  out  of  the 
woods,  I  proceeded  to  halloo;  for  in  an  address  made  at 
the  opening  of  the  session  of  1888,  alluding  to  the  doubt  long 
felt  about  the  appropriation,  I  said,  ''That  fear  has  now 
happily  been  removed."  I  reckoned  without  the  Secre- 
tary, who  issued  an  order,  a  bolt  out  of  the  blue,  depriving 
the  College  not  only  of  its  building,  but  of  its  independent 
existence;  transferring  it  to  the  care  of  the  commander  of 
the  Torpedo  Station,  on  another  island  in  Narragansett 
Bay.  This  ended  my  official  existence  as  president  of  the 
College,  and  I  was  sent  off  to  Puget  Sound ;  one  of  a  com- 
mission to  choose  a  site  for  a  navy-yard  there.  I  never 
knew,  nor  cared,  just  why  Whitney  took  this  course,  but  I 
afterwards  had  an  amusing  experience  with  liim,  showing 
how  men  forget;  like  my  old  commodore  his  moment  of 
despondency  about  the  outcome  of  the  war.  In  later 
years  he  and  I  were  members  of  a  dining  club  in  New  York. 
I  then  had  had  my  success  and  recognition.  One  evening 
I  chanced  to  say  to  him,  apropos  of  what  I  do  not  now  re- 
call, "  It  was  at  the  time,  you  know,  that  you  sent  Samp- 
son to  the  Naval  Academy,  and  Goodrich  to  the  Torpedo 
Station."  "Yes,"  he  rejoined,  complacently;  "and  I  sent 
you  to  the  War  College."  It  was  Hterally  true,  doubtless; 
his  act,  though  not  his  selection;  but  in  view  of  the  cold 
comfort  and  the  petard  with  which  he  there  favored  me, 

299 


FROM  SAIL   TO  STEAM 

for  Whitney  to  fancy  himself  a  patron  to  me,  except  on  a 
Johnsonian  definition  of  the  word/  was  as  humorous  a 
performance  as  I  have  Imown. 

So  I  went  to  Puget  Sound,  a  very  pleasant  as  well  as  in- 
teresting experience;  for,  having  a  government  tender  at 
our  disposal,  we  penetrated  by  daylight  to  every  corner  of 
that  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  the  intricate  windings  of 
which  prepare  a  continual  series  of  surprises;  each  scene 
like  the  last,  yet  different;  the  successive  resemblances  of  a 
family  wherein  all  the  members  are  lovely,  yet  individual. 
Then  was  there  not,  suburban  to  the  city  of  Seattle,  Lake 
Washington,  a  great  body  of  fresh  water?  Of  this,  and  of 
its  island,  blooming  with  beautiful  villas,  a  delightful  sum- 
mer resort  in  easy  reach  of  the  town  by  cars,  we  saw  be- 
fore our  arrival  alluring  advertisements  and  pictures,  which 
were,  perhaps,  a  little  premature  and  impressionist.  How 
seductive  to  the  imagination  was  the  future  battle-ship  fleet 
resting  in  placid  fresh  water,  bottoms  unfouled  and  little 
rusted,  awaiting  peacefully  the  call  to  arms;  upon  which 
it  should  issue  through  the  canal  yet  to  be  dug  between 
sound  and  lake,  ready  for  instant  action!  Great  would 
have  been  the  glory  of  Seattle,  and  corresponding  the  dis- 
comfiture of  its  rival  Tacoma,  which  undeniably  had  no 
lake,  and,  moreover,  lay  imder  the  stigma  of  having  tried, 
in  such  default,  to  appropriate  by  misnomer  another  grand 
natural  feature;  giving  its  own  name  Tacoma  to  Mount 
Rainier,  so  called  by  Vancouver  for  an  ancient  British 
admiral.  A  sharp  Seattleite  said  that  a  tombstone  had 
thus  been  secured,  to  preserve  the  remembrance  of  Tacoma 
when  the  city  itself  should  be  no  more.  The  local  nomen- 
clature affixed  by  Vancouver  still  remains  in  many  cases. 
Puget,  originally  applied  to  one  only  of  the  many  branches 

•  "  Is  not  patron,  my  lord,  one  who  looks  witli  unconcern  on  a  man 
struggling  for  life  in  the  water,  and,  when  lie  has  reached  ground,  en- 
cumbers him  with  help?" — Johnson  to  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield. 

300 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE 

of  the  sound,  was  among  his  officers.  Hood's  Inlet  was, 
doubtless,  in  honor  of  the  great  admiral,  Lord  Hood ;  while 
Restoration  Point  commemorates  an  anniversary  of  the 
restoration  of  Charles  II.  As  regarded  Lake  Washington, 
our  commission  was  a  little  nervous  lest  an  injury  to  the 
canal  might  interfere  at  a  critical  moment  with  the  fleet's 
freedom  of  movement,  leaving  it  bottled  up,  and  wired 
down.  We  selected,  therefore,  the  site  where  the  yard 
now  stands,  in  a  singularly  well  -  protected  inlet  on  the 
western  side  of  the  main  ai'in,  with  an  anchorage  of  very 
moderate  depth  and  easy  current  for  Puget  Sound.  There, 
if  my  recollection  is  right,  it  is  nearly  equidistant  from 
the  two  cities.  Our  judgment  was  challenged  and  another 
commission  sent  out.  This  confirmed  our  choice,  but  very 
much  less  land  was  secured  than  we  had  advised. 


XII 

EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

Before  my  return  from  Puget  Sound  a  new  adminis- 
tration had  come  in  with  President  Harrison,  and  the  War 
College  was  once  more  in  favor.  But  its  organization  had 
been  destroyed,  and  some  time  must  elapse  before  it  could 
get  again  on  its  legs.  In  the  summer  of  1889  a  course  was 
held  at  the  Torpedo  Station,  where  I  lectured  with  others. 
The  following  winter  an  appropriation  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  was  made  for  a  College  building ;  the  old  one 
being  confirmed  to  the  training  station,  which  continued, 
however,  strongly  to  oppose  any  use  of  its  grounds  for 
the  new  venture.  In  this  it  was  overruled,  and  in  1892  the 
College  started  afresh  in  what  has  since  been  its  constant 
headquarters,  two  hundred  yards  from  its  original  position. 

In  the  mean  time  my  first  series  of  lectures  had  been 
published  in  book  form,  imder  the  title  The  Influence  of 
Sea  Power  upon  History,  1660-1783.  This  was  in  May, 
1890.  That  it  filled  a  need  was  speedily  evident  by  favor- 
able reviews,  which  were  much  more  explicit  and  hearty 
in  Europe,  and  especially  in  Great  Britain,  than  in  the 
United  States.  The  point  of  view  apparently  possessed 
a  novelty,  which  produced  upon  readers  something  of  the 
effect  of  a  surprise.  The  work  has  since  received  the  fur- 
ther indorsement  of  translation  into  French,  German,  Jap- 
anese, Russian,  and  Spanish;  I  think  into  Italian  also,  but 
of  this  I  am  not  certain.  The  same  compUment  has,  I  be- 
lieve, been  paid  to  its  successor,  which  carried  the  treat- 

302 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

ment  down  to  the  fall  of  Napoleon.  Notably,  it  may  be 
said  that  my  theme  has  brought  me  into  pleasant  corre- 
spondence with  several  Japanese  officials  and  translators, 
than  whom  none,  as  far  as  known  to  me,  have  shown 
closer  or  more  interested  attention  to  the  general  subject; 
how  fruitfully,  has  been  demonstrated  both  by  their  prep- 
aration and  their  accomplishments  in  the  recent  war.  As 
far  as  known  to  myself,  more  of  my  works  have  been  done 
into  Japanese  than  into  any  other  one  tongue. 

In  1890  and  1891  there  was  no  session  of  the  College. 
During  this  period  of  suspended  animation  its  activities 
were  limited  to  my  own  preparations  for  continuing  the 
historical  course  through  the  wars  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion and  Empire,  with  a  view  to  the  resumption  of  teach- 
ing. I  was  kept  on  this  duty;  and  I  think  no  one  else 
was  busy  in  direct  connection  with  the  institution,  though 
the  former  lecturers  were  for  the  most  part  available.  It 
is  evident  how  particularly  fortunate  such  circumstances 
were  to  an  author.  For  the  two  years  that  they  lasted 
I  had  no  cares  beyond  writing;  was  un vexed  by  either 
pecuniary  anxieties  or  interference  from  my  superiors.  The 
College  slumbered  and  I  worked.  My  results,  after  one 
season's  use  as  lectures,  were  published  in  two  volumes, 
under  the  title  The  Influence  of  Sea  Power  upon  the  French 
Revolution  and  Empire. 

Of  this  work  it  may  accurately  be  said  that  in  order  of 
composition  it  was  begun  with  its  final  chapter.  The  ac- 
cumulation and  digestion  of  material  had  been  spasmodic 
and  desultory,  for  I  had  hesitated  much  whether  to  pursue 
the  treatment  after  1783.  The  instability  of  the  College 
fortunes  had  irritated  as  well  as  harassed  me.  If  the  navy 
did  not  want  what  I  was  doing,  why  should  I  persist? 
Nothing  having  been  given  to  the  world,  I  had  had  no  out- 
side encouragement ;  and  little  from  within  the  profession, 
save  the  cordial  approval  of  a  very  few  officers.     How- 

303 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

ever,  dm"ing  the  two  years  of  doubtful  struggle  I  had  read 
quite  widely  upon  the  general  history  of  the  particular 
period,  as  well  as  upon  the  effects  of  sea  power  in  the 
Peloponnesian  War;  together  with  such  details  as  I  could 
collect  from  Livy  and  Polybius  of  naval  occurrences  while 
Hannibal  was  in  Italy.  My  outlook  was  thus  enlarged; 
not  upon  military  matters  only,  but  by  an  appreciation 
of  the  strength  of  Athens,  broad  based  upon  an  extensive 
system  of  maritime  commerce.  This  prepared  me  to  see 
in  the  Continental  System  of  Napoleon  the  direct  outcome 
of  Great  Britain's  maritime  supremacy,  and  the  ultimate 
cause  of  his  own  ruin.  Thus,  while  gathering  matter,  a 
conception  was  forming,  which  became  the  dominant  feat- 
ure in  my  scheme  by  the  time  I  began  to  write  in  earnest. 
Coincidently  with  these  studies,  and  with  my  other  occu- 
pations when  at  first  president  of  the  College,  two  introduc- 
tory chapters  had  been  written;  one  bridging  the  mterval 
between  1783  and  1793,  so  as  to  hitch  on  to  my  first  book, 
the  other  dealing  with  the  state  of  the  navies  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  French  Revolution, 

There  Mr.  Whitney's  action  brought  me  up  with  a  round 
turn.  When  I  resumed,  late  in  1889,  I  extended  my  read- 
ing by  Jomini's  Wars  of  the  French  Republic,  a  work  in- 
structive from  the  political  as  well  as  military  point  of 
view;  concurrently  testing  Howe's  naval  campaign  of  1794 
by  the  principles  advanced  by  the  military  author,  which 
commended  themselves  to  my  judgment.  In  connection 
with  this  study  of  naval  strategy,  I  reconstructed  inde- 
pendently Howe's  three  engagements  of  May  28th  and  29th, 
and  June  1st,  from  the  details  given  by  James,  Troude,  and 
Chevalier,  analyzing  and  discussing  the  successive  tactical 
measures  of  the  opposing  admirals;  in  the  battle  of  Jmie 
1st  going  so  far  as  to  trace  even  the  tracks  of  the  fifty-odd 
individual  ships  throughout  the  action.  This,  the  most 
complicated  presentation  I  ever  attempted,  was  a  needless 

304 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

elaboration,  though  of  absorbing  interest  to  nie  when  once 
begun.  A  comparison  between  it  and  the  bare  conven- 
tional diagram  of  Trafalgar  in  the  same  volumes,  which  has 
been  criticised  as  not  reproducing  the  facts,  may  serve  to 
show  how  far  multiplicity  of  minutia  conduces  to  clearness 
of  perception.  From  the  Trafalgar  plan  a  reader,  lay  or 
professional,  can  grasp  readily  the  imderlying  conceptions 
upon  which  the  battle  was  fought,  and  the  manner  in  which 
they  were  executed,  as  commonly  received;  but  who  ever 
has  tried  to  comprehend  the  movements  of  the  vessels  on 
June  1st,  as  I  ehcited  them?  Assiuning  their  correctness, 
it  was  a  mere  mental  diversion,  in  result  rather  confusing 
than  illuminative  to  a  student;  whereas  ships  arranged  like 
beads  on  a  string  can  give  an  impression  fundamentally 
correct,  and  to  be  apprehended  at  a  glance.  So  far  from 
tending  to  lucidity,  accumulation  of  detail  in  pursuit  of 
minute  accm-acy  rather  obscures.  Nelson  himself  indicated 
his  intentions  sufficiently  by  straight  hues.  One  merit  my 
Jmie  1st  plan  may  possibly  possess;  the  perplexing  optical 
effect  may  convey  better  than  words  the  intricacy  of  a 
naval  meUe. 

Coincidently  with  the  study  of  mihtary  events,  connoted 
by  Howe's  campaign  and  Jomini,  I  of  course  did  a  good 
deal  of  reading  which  here  can  be  described  only  as  mis- 
cellaneous; prominent  amid  which  was  Thiers's  History  of 
the  Consulate  and  Empire,  Napoleon's  Correspondence  and 
Commentaries,  and  the  orations  of  Pitt  and  Fox.  From 
Thiers,  confirmed  by  contemporary  memoirs  and  pam- 
phlets and  other  incidental  mention,  I  gained  my  convic- 
tion that  the  Continental  System  was  the  determinative 
factor  in  Napoleon's  fortunes  after  Tilsit.  Pitt's  speeches, 
taken  with  his  life,  seemed  to  me  conclusive  as  to  his  pol- 
icy, despite  the  evil  construction  placed  upon  his  acts  by 
Frenchmen  of  his  day,  which  Thiers  has  perpetuated.  I 
saw  clearly  and  conclusively,  as  I  thought,  apparent  in  his 

305 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

public  words  and  private  letters,  a  strong  desire  for  peace, 
and  a  hand  forced  by  a  wilful  spirit  of  aggression  which 
momentarily  had  lost  the  balance  of  its  reason.  Making 
every  allowance  for  the  extravagances  of  the  French  rulers, 
unpractised  in  government  and  driven  by  a  burning  sense 
of  mission  to  universal  mankind,  it  was  to  me  evident  that 
their  demands  upon  other  nations,  and  notably  upon  Great 
Britain,  were  subversive  of  all  public  order  and  law,  and  of 
international  security. 

Pitt's  proud  resolution  to  withstand  to  the  uttermost 
this  tendency,  coupled  with  his  evident  passionate  cling- 
ing to  peace  as  the  basis  of  his  life  ambition,  constituted 
to  my  apprehension  a  tragedy;  of  lofty  personal  aim  and 
effort  wrestling  with,  and  slowly  done  to  death  by,  op- 
posing conditions  too  mighty  for  man.  The  dramatic  in- 
tensity of  the  situation  was  increased  by  the  absence  of 
the  external  dramatic  appeal  characteristic  of  his  father. 
It  carried  the  force  of  emotion  suppressed.  The  bitter 
inner  disappointment  is  veiled  under  the  reserve  of  his 
private  life  and  the  reticence  of  his  public  utterance,  which 
give  to  his  personality  a  certain  remoteness  from  usual  joys 
and  sorrows;  but,  the  veil  once  pierced  by  sympathy,  the 
human  side  of  the  younger  Pitt  stands  revealed  as  of  one 
who,  without  complaint,  bore  no  common  burden,  did  no 
■  common  work,  and  to  whom  fell  no  common  share  of  the 
suffering  which  arises  from  disappointment  and  frustration, 
in  ideals  and  achievement.  The  conflict  of  the  two  motives 
in  the  man's  steadfast  nature  aroused  in  me  an  enthusi- 
asm which  I  did  not  seek  to  check;  for  I  believe  enthu- 
siasm no  bad  spirit  in  which  to  realize  history  to  yourself 
or  others.  It  tends  to  bias;  but  bias  can  be  controlled. 
Enthusiasm  has  its  place,  not  for  action  only,  nor  for 
speaking,  but  in  writing  and  in  appreciation;  quite  as 
critical  analysis  and  judicial  impartiality  have  theirs.  To 
deny  either  is  to  err.    The  moment  of  exaltation  gone,  the 

306 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

dispassionate  intellect  may  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  ex- 
pressions of  thought  and  feehng  which  have  been  prompted 
by  the  stirring  of  the  mind;  but  without  this  there  lacks  one 
element  of  true  presentation.  The  height  of  full  recogni- 
tion for  a  great  event,  or  a  great  personahty,  has  not  been 
reached.  The  swelling  of  the  breast  under  strong  emotion 
upHfts  understanding.  Under  such  influence  a  writer  is 
to  the  extent  of  his  faculties  on  the  level  of  his  theme. 
As  for  biography,  I  would  no  more  attempt  to  write  that 
of  a  man  for  whom  I  felt  no  warm  admiration,  than  I 
would  maintain  friendship  with  one  for  whom  I  had  no 
affection. 

Doubtless  there  also  was  in  Pitt's  manner  of  speech,  in 
the  cast  of  his  sentences, — the  style  that  is  the  man  him- 
self,— something  which  appealed  especially  to  me.  Often, 
when  reading  in  the  Public  Library  of  New  York  a  passage 
of  unusual  eloquence,  I  would  be  strongly  moved  to  rise  on 
the  spot  and  give  three  cheers;  and  I  heartily  subscribed 
to  a  Latin  motto  on  the  title-page  of  the  edition  I  was 
using:  If  you  could  but  have  heard  himself.  But  it  was 
more  than  that.  The  story  increasingly  impressed  itself 
upon  me.  I  saw  him  conscious  of  great  capacities  for  the 
administration  of  peace,  an  inner  conviction  of  far  less 
abiHty  for  war;  with  a  vision  of  Great  Britain  happy  and 
prosperous  beyond  all  past  experience  under  his  enlightened 
guidance,  of  which  already  the  plans  had  been  revealed 
and  proof  been  given,  and  over  against  this  the  palpable 
reality  of  a  current  too  powerful  to  be  resisted,  sweeping 
her  into  a  conflict,  the  end  of  which,  amid  such  unprece- 
dented conditions,  could  not  be  foreseen.  Also,  despite  all 
his  deficiencies  for  a  war  ministry,  as  I  read  and  studied 
the  general  features  of  the  situation  with  which  he  had  to 
deal,  I  became  convinced  that  the  broad  Unes  of  his  poHcy 
coincided  with  the  military  necessities  of  the  case,  to  an 
extent  that  he  himself  very  possibly  did  not  realize.     For 

307 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

as  the  Directory  outlined  Napoleon's  Continental  System, 
so  Pitt,  unknowingly  perhaps,  pursued  the  methods,  as 
he  definitely  predicted  the  means — exliaustion — by  which 
his  successors  brought  to  a  stop  the  mischievous  energies 
of  France  under  the  great  emperor. 

Thus,  before  I  began  to  write,  my  leading  ideas  for  the 
historical  treatment  of  the  influence  of  sea  power  during 
the  period  1793  - 1814  rested  upon  an  approval  of  the 
main  features  of  Pitt's  war  policy,  and  sjanpathy  with  his 
personal  position;  upon  a  clear  conviction  of  the  weight 
of  the  Continental  System  as  a  factor  in  the  general  situa- 
tion, and  of  its  being  a  direct  consequence  from  British 
maritime  supremacy;  and  upon  a  sufficiently  comprehen- 
sive acquaintance  with  the  operations  of  the  land  warfare 
up  to  the  Peace  of  Amiens.  Having  as  yet  written  only 
the  two  introductory  chapters,  and  Howe's  campaign  being 
strictly  episodical,  the  work  as  an  organic  whole  was  still 
before  me  when  the  summer  of  1890  arrived.  It  was  then 
thought  probable  that  the  College  would  at  once  resume, 
and  in  order  to  be  at  hand  I  settled  my  family  in  Newport, 
there  addressing  myself  to  my  new  lectures.  Considering  the 
mass  of  detail  through  which  my  hearers  must  be  carried, 
I  thought  advisable  to  begin  with  an  outline  statement  of 
the  general  political  and  military  conditions,  and  of  their 
sequences;  a  rudimentary  figure,  a  skeleton,  the  nakedness 
of  which  should  render  easy  to  understand  the  mutual  bear- 
ings of  the  several  parts,  and  their  articulations.  So  most 
surely  could  the  relation  of  sea  power  to  the  other  mem- 
bers be  seen,  and  its  influence  upon  them  and  upon  the 
ultimate  issue  be  appreciated.  Before  I  began,  I  remem- 
ber explaining  to  a  brother  officer  my  conception  of  the 
Continental  System  as  the  culmination  of  the  maritime 
struggle,  which  in  a  narrowly  military  sense  had  ended 
with  Trafalgar.  The  light  thus  cast  would  illuminate  after- 
wards each  of  the  several  sections  of  the  history,  treated 

308 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

circumstantially  in  order  of  time.  In  short,  I  here  applied 
to  the  whole  the  method  of  my  diagram  for  Trafalgar,  and 
not  of  that  for  Jmie  1st.  The  result  was  the  chapter  last 
in  the  work,  as  it  now  stands,  but  the  first  to  be  com- 
posed. 

A  few  months  before  book  publication  this  chapter  ap- 
peared in  the  Quarterly  Review,  under  the  title  "Pitt's 
War  Pohcy,"  chosen  by  me  to  express  my  recognition  that 
the  grand  policy  was  his;  that  in  it  he  was  real  as  well  as 
titular  premier;  and  that  in  my  judgment,  despite  the 
numerous  errors  of  detail  which  demonstrated  his  hmited 
military  understanding,  the  economical  comprehension  of 
the  statesman  had  developed  a  political  strategy  which 
vindicated  his  greatness  in  war  as  in  peace.  The  article 
ended,  as  the  chapter  then  did,  with  the  weU-known  quota- 
tion, particularly  apt  to  my  appreciation,  "The  Pilot  had 
weathered  the  storm."  The  few  subsequent  pages  were 
added  later.  By  an  odd  coincidence,  just  as  I  had  offered 
the  paper  to  the  Quarterly,  one  under  the  same  title,  "by 
a  Foxite,"  came  out  in  another  magazine.  Somewhat  dis- 
composed, I  hurried  to  look  this  up;  but  found,  as  from 
the  nom  de  'plume  might  be  presumed,  that  it  did  not  take 
my  Hne  of  argument,  but  rather,  as  I  recall,  that  of  Pitt's 
opponents,  which  Macaulay  has  developed  with  his  accus- 
tomed brilliancy,  although  to  my  mind  with  profound  mis- 
conception and  superficial  criticism.  Fox's  speeches  had 
made  upon  me  the  impression  of  the  mere  objector.  In- 
deed, I  felt  this  so  strongly  that  I  had  written  of  him  as 
"the  great,  but  factious,  leader  of  the  opposition."  In 
proofreading  I  struck  out  "factious;"  as  needless,  and  as 
a  generalization  on  insufficient  premises. 

It  was  not  till  the  following  December — 1890 — that  I 
began  the  two  chapters  next  in  order  of  composition,  on 
"  The  Warfare  against  Commerce."  These  occupied  me  late 
into  the  winter,  covering  as   they  did   the  entire  period 

309 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEAM 

1793-1814,  and  embracing  a  great  deal  of  detail.  Taken 
together,  these  three  chapters,  final  but  first  written,  con- 
tain the  main  argument  of  the  book.  The  naval  occur- 
rences, brilliant  and  interesting  as  they  were,  are  logically 
but  the  prelude  to  the  death  grapple.  Pitt's  pohcy  stood 
justified,  because  naval  supremacy,  established  by  war, 
secured  control  of  the  seas  and  of  maritime  commerce,  and 
so  exhausted  Napoleon.  Not  till  this  demonstration  had 
been  accomplished  to  my  own  satisfaction  did  I  take  up 
the  narrative  and  discussion  of  warfare,  land  and  sea. 
Thus  the  prelude  followed  the  play.  My  memory  retains 
associations  which  enable  me  definitely  to  fix  the  progress 
of  the  work.  Thus  the  chapter  on  "  The  Brest  Blockade," 
from  its  characteristics,  long  continuance,  and  incidents, 
one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  purely  naval  opera- 
tions, was  composed  in  the  summer  of  1891,  at  Richfield; 
while  the  campaign  and  battle  of  Trafalgar,  the  last  done 
of  all,  passed  through  my  hands  in  April,  1892,  in  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  where  I  then  was  on  court-martial  duty. 

This  second  book  was  written  under  much  more  en- 
couraging circumstances  than  its  predecessor,  and  with 
much  greater  deliberation.  The  first  occupied  me  little 
over  one  year;  the  second,  though  covering  only  one-fifth 
the  time,  was  in  hand  three.  There  were  long  interrup- 
tions, it  is  true ;  the  Puget  Sound  business,  and  the  writing 
of  a  short  Life  of  Farragut.  But  the  chief  cause  of  delay 
was  a  much  more  extensive  preparation.  This  was  owing 
largely  to  the  crowded  activities  of  the  brief  twenty  years 
treated,  and  still  more  to  wider  outlook.  I  attempted,  in- 
deed, nothing  that  could  be  called  original  research.  I  still 
relied  wholly  upon  printed  matter,  but  in  that  I  wandered 
far.  The  privilege  was  accorded  me  of  free  access  to  the 
alcoves  of  what  was  then  the  Astor  Library,  now,  while 
keeping  its  name,  incorporated  with  the  New  York  Pub- 
lic  Library;   and   I  mmmaged   its  well-stocked   shelves, 

310 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

following  up  every  clue,  especially  memoirs,  pamphlets, 
and  magazines,  contemporary  with  my  period.  From  the 
estimate  I  had  formed  of  the  effect  of  conmierce  upon 
the  outcome  of  the  hostilities,  it  was  necessary  to  digest 
the  statistics  of  the  times,  much  of  which  existed  in  tabu- 
lated form;  and,  for  commercial  policy,  the  State  Papers, 
and  debates  in  Parliament,  as  well  as  in  the  French  Na- 
tional Convention.  I  now  had  not  only  interest  in  my 
task,  but  pride;  for  the  favorable  criticism  upon  the  first 
sea-power  book  not  only  had  surprised  me,  but  had  in- 
creased my  ambition  and  my  self-confidence.  It  was  a 
distinct  help  that  there  was  no  expectation  of  pecuniary 
advantage;  no  publisher  or  magazine  editor  pressing  for 
"copy,"  on  which  dollars  depended.  I  now  often  recall 
with  envy  the  happiness  of  those  days,  when  the  work  was 
its  own  reward,  and  quite  sufficient,  too,  almost  as  good 
as  a  baby;  when  there  were  no  secondary  considerations, 
however  important,  to  dispute  for  the  first  place.  I  have 
never  knowingly  let  work  leave  my  hands  in  shape  less 
good  than  the  best  I  can  turn  out;  but  I  have  often  felt 
the  temptation  to  do  so,  and  wished — almost,  not  quite — 
that  there  was  no  money  in  it.  I  recast  Dr.  Johnson's 
saying:  "None  but  a  blockhead  would  write  unless  he 
needed  money."  None  but  a  blockhead  would  write  for 
money,  unless  he  had  to. 

Though  not  embarrassed  by  publishers,  I  found  a  more 
formidable  enemy  on  my  tracks  in  1892.  There  had  been 
a  change  in  the  Bureau  of  Navigation,  and  the  new  chief, 
under  whom  the  College  was,  thought  my  help  to  it  less 
necessary  than  my  going  to  sea.  To  an  advocate  of  al- 
lowing me  time,  he  replied,  summarily,  "  It  is  not  the  busi- 
ness of  a  naval  officer  to  write  books."  As  an  aphorism 
the  remark  is  doubtless  unassailable ;  but,  with  a  policy  thus 
defined,  my  position,  again  to  quote  Boatswain  Chucks, 
became  "precarious  and  not  at  all  permanent."    That  my 

311 


FROM    SAIL    TO    STEA:\I 

turn  for  sea  service  had  come  was  indisputable.  I  could 
pretend  to  no  grievance,  but  I  did  want  first  to  finish  that 
book.  Yet  I  have  recalled  with  happiness  that  I  was 
enabled  to  w^ork  steadfastly  on,  my  pulse  beating  no  quick- 
er for  fear  I  should  be  interrupted  and  my  task  left  un- 
finished. I  remember  a  Boston  publisher  telling  me  of  the 
anxiety  felt  by  one  of  his  distinguished  chents,  lest  death 
should  overtake  him  before  that  which  he  had  planned  was 
completed.  The  feeling  is  common  to  man,  and  one  is 
touched  by  the  apparent  tragedy  when  men  of  promise  and 
achievement  are  so  removed,  their  aims  unaccomplished, 
as  were  recently  Professor  Rawson  Gardiner  and  Sir  WiUiam 
Hmiter;  but  it  was  given  me  early  to  reahze  that  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  being  cut  off  unbetimes.  If  I  were 
called  at  the  end  of  a  day's  stint,  or  the  pen  fell  from  my 
hand  in  the  midst  of  it,  that  which  was  appointed  me 
was  done;  if  well  done,  what  mattered  the  rest?  This 
quietness  came  to  me  through  a  chain  of  thought.  I  had 
been  experiencing,  as  many  others  have,  the  weariness  of 
a  long-winded  job,  the  end  of  which  seemed  to  recede  with 
each  day's  progress;  and  there  came  to  my  mind  Long- 
fellow's "Village  Blacksmith:" 

"Toiling,  rejoicing,  sorrowing. 
Onward  through  life  he  goes; 
Each  morning  sees  some  task  begin, 
Each  evening  sees  it  close." 

Would  it  were  so  with  me!  And  a  voice  replied,  " Is  it  not 
so  with  you?  with  all?"  Since  then  I  have  imderstood; 
though  the  flesh  is  often  weak,  and  even  the  calm  of  the 
study  cannot  always  exclude  the  contagious  fever  of  our 
American  pace.  In  the  particular  juncture,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  Mr.  Tracy,  took  my  view  of  relative  impor- 
tances, and  time  was  secured  me.  The  manuscript  was 
complete  by  the  late  spring  of  1892,  and  the  book  pub- 

312  ^ 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

lisli(;d  in  December,  having  meantime  been  used  for  lect- 
ures in  the  first  session  of  the  College  in  its  new  building; 
a  renewal  of  life  which  has  since  proved  continuous. 

During  this  interval  occurred  another  presidential  cam- 
paign. Mr,  Harrison  was  defeated  and  Mr.  Cleveland 
elected.  I  was  now  ready  to  go  to  sea,  but  by  this  time 
had  decided  that  authorship  had  for  me  greater  attractions 
than  following  up  my  profession,  and  promised  a  fuller 
and  more  successful  old  age.  I  would  have  retired  im- 
mediately, had  I  then  fulfilled  the  necessary  forty  years' 
service;  but  of  these  I  still  lacked  four.  My  purpose  was 
to  take  up  at  once  the  War  of  1812,  while  the  history  of 
the  preceding  events  was  fresh  in  my  mind;  and  in  this 
view  I  asked  to  be  excused  from  sea  duty,  undertaking 
that  I  would  retire  when  my  forty  years  were  complete. 
The  request  was  probably  inadmissible,  for  I  could  have 
given  no  guarantees;  and  the  precedent  might  have  been 
bad.  At  any  rate,  it  was  not  granted,  luckily  for  me;  f  r 
by  a  combination  of  unforeseen  circumstances  the  ship  to 
which  I  was  ordered,  the  Chicago,  was  sent  to  Europe  as 
flag-ship  of  that  station,  and  on  her  visit  to  England,  in 

1894,  occasion  was  taken  by  naval  officers  and  others  to 
express  in  public  manner  their  recognition  of  the  value  they 
thought  my  work  had  been  to  the  appreciation  of  naval 
questions  there.  This  brought  my  name  forward  in  a  way 
that  could  not  but  be  flattering,  and  affected  favorably  the 
sale  of  the  books ;  the  previous  readers  of  wliich  had  seem- 
ingly been  few,  though  from  among  those  few  I  had  received 
pleasant  comphments.  Upon  this  followed  the  conferring 
upon  me  honorary  degrees  by  the  two  imiversities ;  D.C.L. 
by  Oxford,  and  LL.D.  by  Cambridge.     After  my  return,  in 

1895,  LL.D,  was  extended  also  by  Harvard,  Yale,  and 
Columbia,  in  the  order  named,  and  by  McGill  in  Montreal. 

Another  very  pleasing  and  interesting  experience  while 
in  London  was  dining  with  the  Royal  Navy  Club.    This 

313 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

is  an  ancient  institution,  dating  back  to  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Its  hst  of  members  carries  many  cele- 
brated names,  among  others  Nelson.  It  has  no  club-house, 
and  exists  as  an  organization  only ;  meeting  for  dinners  on 
or  near  the  dates  of  some  half-dozen  famous  naval  vic- 
tories, the  anniversaries  of  which  it  thus  commemorates 
yearly.  There  is  by  rule  one  guest  of  the  evening,  and  one 
only,  who  is  titularly  the  guest  of  the  presiding  officer;  but 
on  this  occasion  an  exception  was  made  for  our  admiral 
and  myself.  Unfortunately,  he,  who  was  much  the  better 
after-dinner  speaker,  was  ill  and  could  not  attend.  The 
rule  thus  remained  intact,  and  I  have  understood  that  this 
was  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  club  that  the  guest 
had  been  a  foreigner. 

The  Chicago  had  left  England  and  was  lying  at  Antwerp 
when  the  time  for  conferring  degrees  arrived.  My  attend- 
ance in  person  was  requisite,  but  only  a  week  could  be 
spared  from  the  ship  for  the  purpose.  This  made  it  impos- 
sible for  me  to  be  present  in  both  cases  at  the  high  cere- 
monial, where  the  honors  are  bestowed  upon  the  full  group 
of  recipients.  Oxford  had  been  first  to  tender  me  her  dis- 
tinction, and  I  accordingly  arranged  my  journey  with  a 
view  to  her  celebration;  two  days  before  which  I  went 
down  to  Cambridge,  and  was  there  received  and  enrolled 
at  a  private  audience,  before  the  accustomed  officials  and 
some  few  visitors  from  outside.  What  the  circumstances 
lacked  in  the  pomp  of  numbers  and  observance,  and  in 
the  consequent  stimulus  to  interest  which  a  very  novel 
experience  arouses,  was  compensated  to  me  by  the  few 
hours  of  easy  social  intercourse  with  a  few  eminent  per- 
sons, whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of  then  meeting  very  in- 
formally. 

The  great  occasion  at  Oxford  presents  a  curious  com- 
bination of  impress! veness  and  horse-play,  such  as  is  as- 
sociated with  the  Abbot  of  Misrule  in  the  stories  of  the 

314 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

Middle  Ages.  It  is  this  smack  and  suggestion  of  antiquity, 
of  unnumbered  such  occasions  in  the  misty  past,  when  the 
student  was  half-scholar  and  half-ruffian,  which  make  the 
permitted  license  of  to-day  not  only  tolerable,  but  in  a 
sense  even  venerable.  The  good-humor  and  general  ac- 
ceptance on  both  sides,  by  chaffers  and  chaffed,  testified 
to  recognized  conditions;  and  there  is  about  a  hoary  insti- 
tution a  saving  grace  which  cannot  be  transferred  to  par- 
venus. Practised  in  a  modern  Cis- Atlantic  seat  of  learning, 
as  I  have  seen  it  done,  without  the  historical  background, 
the  same  disregard  of  normal  decorum  becomes  undraped 
rowdyism — boxing  without  gloves.  The  scene  and  its  con- 
currences at  Oxford  have  been  witnessed  by  too  many,  and 
too  often  described,  for  me  to  attempt  them.  I  shall  nar- 
rate only  my  particular  experiences.  I  had  been  desired  to 
appear  in  full  uniform — epaulettes,  cocked  hat,  sword,  and 
what  is  suggestively  called  "brass-bound"  coat;  swallow- 
tailed,  with  a  high  collar  stiffened  with  fining  and  gold 
lace,  set  off  by  trousers  with  a  like  broad  stripe  of  lace, 
not  inaptly  characterized  by  some  humorist  as  "railroad" 
trousers.  The  theory  of  these  last,  I  believe,  is  that  so 
much  decoration  on  hat  and  collar,  if  not  balanced  by  an 
equivalent  amount  below,  is  top-heavy  in  visual  effect,  if 
not  on  personal  stability.  Whatever  the  reason,  it  is  aU 
there,  and  I  had  it  all  at  Oxford ;  all  on  my  head  and  back, 
I  mean,  except  the  epaulettes.  For  to  my  concern  I  found 
that  over  all  this  paraphernalia  I  must  also  wear  the  red 
silk  gown  of  a  D.C.L.  It  became  evident,  immediately 
upon  trial,  that  the  silk  and  the  epaulettes  were  agreeing 
like  the  Kilkenny  cats,  so  it  was  conceded  that  these  naval 
ornaments  should  be  dispensed  with;  the  more  readily  as 
they  could  not  have  been  seen.  In  the  blend,  and  for  the 
occasion,  my  legal  laurels  prevailed  over  my  professional 
exterior. 
In  the  matter  of  dress  my  life  certainly  cuhninated  when 

315 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

I  walked  up — or  clown — High  Street  in  Oxford  with  cock- 
ed hat,  red  silk  gown,  and  sword,  the  railroad  trousers 
modestly  peeping  beneath.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the 
townsmen  either  had  more  than  French  politeness,  or  else 
were  used  to  incongruities.  I  did  not  see  one  crack  a  smile; 
whether  any  turned  to  look  or  not,  I  did  not  turn  to  see. 
My  hospitable  escort  and  myself  joined  the  other  expect- 
ants before  the  Sheldonian  Theatre,  where  the  ceremonies 
are  held.  The  audience,  of  both  sexes,  visitors  and  students, 
had  already  crammed  the  benches  and  galleries  of  the  great 
circular  interior  when  we  marched  to  our  seats,  in  single 
file,  down  a  narrow  aisle.  The  fun,  doubtless,  had  been 
going  on  already  some  time;  but  for  us  it  was  non-existent 
till  we  entered,  when  the  hose  was  turned  full  upon  us  and 
our  several  peculiarities.  I  am  bound  to  say  that  to  en- 
courage us  we  got  quite  as  many  cheers  as  chaff,  and  the 
personaUties  which  flew  about  hke  grape-shot  were  pretty 
much  hit  or  miss.  I  noticed  that  some  one  from  aloft  call- 
ed out,  "Why  don't  you  have  your  hair  cut?"  which  I 
afterwards  understood  was  a  dehcate  allusion  to  my  some- 
what unparalleled  baldness;  but  it  happened  that  two  be- 
hind me  in  the  procession  w^as  a  very  distinguished  Russian 
scientist,  like  myself  a  D.C.L.  in  ovo,  whose  long  locks  fell 
over  his  collar,  and  I  innocently  supposed  that  so  pertinent 
a  remark  was  addressed  to  him  on  an  occasion  when  im- 
pertinence was  lord  of  the  ascendant.  Thus  the  shaft 
passed  me  harmless,  or  fell  back  blunted  from  my  triple 
armor  of  dulness. 

Although  in  itself  in  most  ways  enjoyable,  the  cruise  of 
the  Chicago  while  it  lasted  necessarily  suspended  author- 
ship. I  heard  intimations  of  the  common  opinion  that  the 
leisure  of  a  naval  officer's  hfe  would  afford  abundant  op- 
portunity. Even  I  myself  for  a  moment  imagined  that 
time  in  some  measure  might  be  found  for  accumulating 
material,  for  which  purpose  I  took  along  several  books; 

316 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

but  it  was  in  vain.  Neither  a  ship  nor  a  book  is  patient 
of  a  rival,  and  I  soon  ceased  the  effort  to  serve  both.  Night 
work  was  tried,  contrary  to  my  habit ;  but  after  a  few  weeks 
I  had  to  recognize  that  the  evening's  exertion  had  dulled 
my  head  for  the  next  morning's  duties. 

My  orders  not  only  interrupted  writing,  but  changed  its 
direction  for  a  long  while.  I  had  foreseen  that  the  War  of 
1812,  as  a  whole,  must  be  flat  in  interest  as  well  as  laborious 
in  execution;  and,  upon  the  provocation  of  other  duty,  I 
readily  turned  from  it  in  distaste.  Nine  years  elapsed  be- 
fore I  took  it  up ;  and  then  rather  \mder  the  compulsion  of 
completing  my  Sea  Power  series,  as  first  designed,  than 
from  any  inclination  to  the  theme.  It  occupied  three 
years — usefully,  I  hope — and  was  published  in  1905.  Re- 
garded as  history,  it  is  by  far  the  most  thorough  work  I 
have  done.  I  went  largely  to  original  documents  in  Wash- 
ington, Ottawa,  and  London,  and  I  believe  I  have  con- 
tributed to  the  particular  period  something  new  in  both 
material  and  interpretation.  But,  whatever  value  the  book 
may  possess  to  one  already  drawn  to  the  subject,  it  is  im- 
possible to  infuse  charm  where  from  the  facts  of  the  case 
it  does  not  exist.  As  a  Chinese  portrait-painter  is  said  to 
have  remonstrated  with  a  discontented  patron,  "  How  can 
pretty  face  make,  when  pretty  face  no  have  got?" 

Thus  my  orders  to  the  Chicago  led  to  dropping  1812,  and 
to  this  my  Life  of  Nelson  was  directly  due.  The  project 
had  already  occurred  to  me,  for  the  conspicuous  elements 
of  human  as  well  as  professional  interest  could  not  well 
escape  one  who  had  just  been  following  him  closely  in  his 
military  career.  Sea  Power  in  the  French  Revolution 
having  been  published  less  than  six  months  before,  the 
framework  of  external  events,  into  which  his  actions  must 
be  fitted,  was  fresh  in  my  recollection,  as  was  also  the 
analysis  of  his  campaigns  and  battles,  available  at  once  for 
fuller  treatment,  more  directly  biographical.    After  consul- 

317 


FROM    SAIL  TO   STEAM 

tation  with  my  publishers  I  decided  to  undertake  the  work, 
and  with  reference  to  it  chiefly  I  provided  myself  reading- 
matter.  I  have  already  said  that  the  experiment  of  writ- 
ing on  board  did  not  succeed.  I  composed  part  of  the 
first  chapter  and  then  stopped;  but  the  purpose  remained, 
and  was  resumed  very  soon  after  leaving  the  Chicago,  in 
May,  1895. 

For  the  writing  of  biography  I  had  formed  a  theory  of 
my  own,  a  guiding  principle,  closely  akin  to  the  part  which 
sea  power  had  played  in  my  treatment  of  history.  This 
leading  idea  was  not  intended  to  exclude  other  points  of 
view  or  manners  of  presentation,  but  was  to  subordinate 
them  somewhat  peremptorily.  As  defined  to  myself,  my 
plan  was  to  realize  personality  by  living  with  the  man,  in 
as  close  familiarity  as  was  consistent  with  the  fact  of  his 
being  dead.  This  was  to  be  done  first  for  myself,  as  the 
necessary  prelude  to  transmission  to  my  readers.  "UTien 
there  remains  a  huge  mass  of  correspondence,  by  one  as 
frank  in  utterance  and  copious  in  self-revelation  as  was 
Nelson,  the  opportunity  to  get  on  terms  of  such  intimacy 
is  unique,  one-sided  though  the  communication  is.  Be- 
sides, companions  and  subordinates  have  left  abimdant 
records  of  their  association  with  him,  which  constitute,  as 
it  were,  the  other  side  of  conversation ;  relieving  the  mono- 
logue of  his  own  letters.  The  first  thing  in  order  is  to 
know  the  living  man;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that,  with  such 
materials,  this  could  be  accomphshed  most  fully  by  steep- 
ing one's  self  in  them,  creating  an  environment  closely 
analogous  to  the  intercourse  of  daily  fife.  I  believed  that 
passive  surrender  to  these  impressions,  rather  than  con- 
scious labored  effort,  would  gradually  produce  the  per- 
ceptions of  immediate  contact,  to  the  utmost  that  the 
nature  of  the  case  admitted.  Johnson  doubtless  was  right 
in  naming  personal  acquaintance  as  chief  among  the  qual- 
ifications of  a  biographer;  faihng  that,  one  must  seek  the 

318 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

best  substitute.  By  either  method  the  conception  of  char- 
acter and  temperament  is  formed;  its  reproduction  to 
readers  is  a  matter  of  power  of  expression,  and  of  capacity 
to  introduce  aptly,  here  and  there,  the  minute  touches  by 
which  an  artist  secures  hkeness  and  heightens  effect. 

Whatever  the  worth  of  this  theory,  it  was  due  in  large 
measure  to  revulsion  from  a  form  of  biography,  to  me  al- 
ways displeasing  and  essentially  crude,  which  gives  a  nar- 
rative of  external  hfe- events,  disjointed  continually  by 
letters.  Profuse  recourse  to  letters  simply  turns  over  to 
the  reader  the  task  which  the  biographer  has  undertaken 
to  do  for  him.  Perhaps  the  biographer  cannot  do  it.  Then 
he  had  better  not  undertake  the  job.  A  collection  of  let- 
ters is  one  thing,  a  biography  another;  and  they  do  not  mix 
well  when  a  career  abounds  in  incident.  Letters  are  ma- 
terial for  biography,  as  original  documents  are  material  for 
history;  but  as  documents  are  not  history,  so  letters  are 
not  biography.  The  historian  and  biographer  by  publishing 
virtually  contract  to  present  their  readers  with  a  digested, 
reasoned  whole;  the  best  expression,  full  yet  balanced,  that 
they  can  give  of  the  truth  concerning  a  period,  or  a  man. 
It  is  a  labor  of  time  and  patience,  and  should  be  also  of 
love ;  one  which  the  reader  is  to  be  spared,  on  the  principle 
that  a  thousand  men  should  not  have  to  do,  each  for  him- 
self, the  work  the  one  writer  professes.  It  is  no  fair  treat- 
ment to  tumble  at  their  feet  a  basketful  of  papers,  and 
virtually  say,  "There!  find  out  the  man  for  yourself." 

The  interest  of  lives,  of  course,  varies,  and  with  it  the 
opportimity  of  the  biographer.  I  do  not  mean  in  degree, 
which  is  trite  to  remark,  but  in  kind,  which  is  less  recog- 
nized. There  are  men  the  value  of  whose  memory  to  their 
race  lies  in  their  thought  and  words,  whose  career  is  un- 
eventful. Yet  even  with  them  the  impression  of  personal- 
ity is  not  as  vividly  produced  by  masses  of  correspondence 
as  it  may  be  by  the  petty  occurrences  of  daily  life,  which 

319 


FROM  SAIL    TO   STEAM 

for  them  are  the  analogues  of  the  stirring  incidents  that 
mark  the  course  of  the  man  of  pubUc  action,  statesman  or 
warrior.  The  reason  is  plain;  the  character  of  few  rises 
to  the  height  of  their  words,  written  or  spoken.  These 
show  their  wisdom,  or  power,  and  are  uplifting;  but  their 
shortcomings,  too,  have  a  virtue.  We  fight  the  better  for 
appreciating  that  victors  have  known  defeat.  The  su- 
preme gift  of  biography  to  mankind  is  personality;  not 
what  the  man  thought  or  did,  but  what  he  was.  Herein 
is  inspiration  and  reproof;  motive  force,  inspiring  or  de- 
terrent. If  nothing  better,  mere  recognition,  or  exultation 
in  an  excellence  to  which  we  do  not  attain,  has  a  saving 
grace  of  its  own. 

For  the  purposes  of  his  biographer.  Dr.  Johnson  scarce- 
ly left  London.  Beyond  a  brief  visit  to  Paris,  only  a  tour 
through  the  Hebrides;  this  an  event  so  colossal  in  its  ele- 
vation above  the  flat  level  of  his  outward  existence,  like 
the  church  towers  in  a  Dutch  landscape,  that  it  is  treat- 
ed as  a  thing  quite  apart,  has  a  volume  to  itself,  severed 
from  its  before  and  after.  Boswell  gives  letters,  certain- 
ly, and  many;  yet,  in  the  matter  of  character  portrayal, 
what  are  they  alongside  of  the  talk?  And  also,  more  per- 
tinent, what  to  Boswell  was  even  the  talk,  compared  with 
the  intercourse  to  which  the  talk  was  incident?  In  this 
he  immersed  himself  and  his  strong  receptive  powers,  ab- 
sorbing the  impression  which  he  has  so  skilfully  repro- 
duced. Such  apprehension  as  Boswell  thus  gained  for 
himself  is  no  neutral  acquirement;  it  is  a  working  force, 
instinctively  selective  from  that  on  which  it  feeds,  and  in- 
tuitive in  its  power  of  arrangement.  To  copy  his  result  is 
futile.  Like  Nelson,  there  is  but  one  Boswell ;  but  it  may 
be  permitted  to  believe  that  lesser  men  will  profit  to  the  ex- 
tent of  their  capacities  by  adopting  his  method.  This  pos- 
sibly he  never  formulated,  in  that  again  proving  his  genius, 
the  unconscious  faculty  of  a  very  self-conscious  man;  but 

320 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

I  conceive  the  process  to  have  been,  first  know  your  sub- 
ject yourseh'  thoroughly  by  close  contact  and  sympathy, 
and  then  so  handle  your  material  as  to  bring  out  to  the 
reader  the  image  revealed  to  you. 

This  is,  in  a  measure,  a  plea  for  picturesque  treatment  of 
biography  and  of  history;  not  by  gaudy  coloring  and  vio- 
lent contrasts,  striving  after  rhetorical  effect,  but  in  the 
observance  of  proportion,  of  grouping,  of  subordination 
to  a  central  idea;  not  content  with  mere  narration,  how- 
ever accurate  in  details.  A  narrative  which  fails  in  por- 
trayal, in  picturesque  impression,  is  not  accurate;  and  a 
biography  which  presents  a  man's  thoughts  and  acts,  yet 
does  not  over  and  above  them  fashion  his  personahty  to 
the  reader,  is  a  failiue.  How  much  conscious  effort  may 
be  necessary  to  the  due  handling  of  materials,  I  certainly 
cannot  undertake  to  say;  but  persuaded  I  am  that  the 
utmost  results  possible  to  any  particular  man  can  be  at- 
tained only  by  passive  assimilation,  and  that  so  they  will 
be  attained  to  the  measure  of  his  individual  capacity.  By 
such  digestion  a  theme  apparently  dry  may  be  quickened 
to  interest.  Tliough  not  a  lawyer,  nor  a  student  of  con- 
stitutions, I  found  Stubbs's  Constitutional  History  of  Eng- 
land fascinating.  I  have  not  analyzed  my  pleasure,  but  I 
beheve  it  to  have  been  due  to  portrayal;  to  arrangement 
of  data  by  a  man  exceptionally  gifted  for  vivid  presenta- 
tion, who  had  so  lived  with  his  subject  that  it  had  reahzed 
itself  to  him  as  a  hving  whole,  which  he  successfully  con- 
veyed to  his  readers.  There  is  no  disj  ointment.  The  re- 
sult is  a  great  historical  picture;  or  a  biography,  of  law 
as  a  benevolent  developing  personahty,  moving  amid  the 
struggles  and  miseries  of  the  human  throng,  heaUng  and 
redressing. 

To  The  Life  of  Nelson  I  applied  the  idea  of  this  method, 
which  I  thought  to  be  helped  rather  than  hindered  by  my 
warm  admiration  for  him,  little  short  of  affection.     I  had 

321 


FROM  SAIL   TO   STEAM 

faith  in  the  power  of  attachment  to  comprehend  character 
and  action;  and  because  of  mine  I  believed  myself  safer 
when  necessary  to  censure.  I  grieved  while  I  condemned. 
I  was  sure  also  that,  however  far  below  an  absolute  best 
I  might  fall,  the  best  that  I  could  do  must  thus  come  out. 
Amid  approval  sufficient  to  gratify  me,  I  found  most  satis- 
faction in  that  of  a  friend  who  said  he  felt  as  if  he  had 
been  living  with  my  hero;  and  of  another  who  told  me 
that  after  his  day's  work,  which  I  knew  to  be  laborious, 
he  had  refreshed  his  evenings  with  Nelson.  In  the  first 
edition  I  fell  into  two  mistakes  of  some  importance,  as  well 
as  others  in  small  details,  the  effect  of  which  was  to  confirm 
me  in  my  theory;  for  while  they  were  blemishes,  and  needed 
correction,  they  did  not,  and  do  not,  to  my  mind  affect  the 
portrait— the  conveyance  of  true  personality. 

Of  these  errors  the  most  serious,  regarded  as  a  fault, 
was  an  inadequate  study  of  Nelson's  course  at  Naples  in 
1799,  so  sharply  challenged  at  that  time  and  afterwards. 
I  recognized  the  justice  of  a  criticism  which  alleged  that  I 
had  not  sufficiently  examined  the  other  side  of  the  case,  as 
presented  by  Italian  authors.  This  I  now  did,  rewTiting 
my  account  for  the  second  edition.  I  found  no  reason  to 
change  my  estimate  of  Nelson's  conduct,  but  rather  to 
confirm  the  favorable  aspects;  but  what  was  more  in- 
structive to  me  was  that  even  so  large  an  oversight  did  not 
when  remedied  affect  the  portrait.  The  personality  re- 
mained as  first  conceived;  Nelson  had  acted  in  character. 
The  same  was  substantially  true  of  a  more  pregnant  m- 
cident,  the  discovery  of  a  number  of  his  letters  to  his  wife, 
which  had  escaped  the  diligent  search  made  by  the  editor 
of  his  correspondence,  Sir  Harris  Nicolas.  After  lying  con- 
cealed for  the  half-century  between  Nicolas  and  myself, 
they  turned  up  shortly  after  my  book  was  in  print.  Here 
was  more  self-revelation;  how  might  it  modify  my  picture? 
The  event  was  ushered  in  with  a  great  flourish  of  trum- 

322 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

pets,  the  walls  of  Jericho  were  about  to  fall,  and  I  own  I 
felt  anxious.  Some  of  the  letters  were  published;  per- 
mission to  see  the  others  was  refused  me.  As  these  have 
not  since  been  given  to  the  world,  I  fancy  that  they  sustain 
the  opinion  expressed  by  me  on  those  that  were;  that  be- 
yond emphasizing  somewhat  his  hardness  to  Lady  Nelson 
during  the  period  of  his  growing  alienation,  they  add  little 
to  the  impression  before  formed.  A  slight  touch  of  the 
brush,  another  line  in  the  face,  that  is  all. 

The  question  of  Nelson's  action  at  Naples  was  brought 
forward  in  a  way  which  required  from  me  some  controver- 
sial writing.  To  this  I  have  no  intention  of  alluding  here, 
beyond  stating  that  up  to  the  present  my  confidence  has 
not  been  shaken  in  my  defence  of  the  main  lines  of  his  con- 
duct, clearing  him  of  the  deceit  and  double-deaUng  alleged 
against  him.  I  say  this  because  there  may  be  some 
who  have  thought  me  silenced  by  argument,  in  that  I 
have  not  seen  fit  to  rise  to  such  crude  taunts  as  that, 
"  After  this  Captain  Mahan  will  not  undertake,"  etc.  What 
Captain  Mahan  will  or  will  not  do  is  of  no  particular  im- 
portance; but  when  the  repute  of  such  an  one  as  Nelson 
is  at  stake,  burdened  by  the  weight  of  calumny  laid  upon 
him  by  Southey's  ill-instructed  censures,  it  is  right  to  re- 
peat that  nothing  I  have  seen  since  I  last  wrote,  about 
1900,  has  appeared  to  me  to  call  for  further  answer. 

The  Life  of  Nelson,  and  The  War  of  1812,  of  which  I  have 
already  spoken,  remain  my  last  extensive  works.  In  the 
interval  between  them,  1897-1902,  I  was  engaged  mostly 
in  occasional  wTiting,  for  magazines  or  otherwise.  From 
time  to  time  these  papers  have  been  collected  and  pub- 
lished, under  titles  which  seemed  appropriate.  Concern- 
ing them,  for  the  most  part,  there  is  one  general  state- 
ment to  be  made.  With  few  exceptions,  they  have  been 
written  to  order.  Partly  from  indisposition  to  this  par- 
ticular activity,  partly  from  indolence,  ultimately  from 

323 


FROM  SAIL  TO   STEAM 

conviction  that  editors  best  know  —  or  should  know  — 
what  the  pubhc  want,  I  have  left  them  to  come  to  me. 
When  expedient,  I  have  taken  a  subject  somewhat  apart 
from  that  suggested,  but  usually  akin.  Speaking  again 
generally,  the  field  of  thought  into  which  I  have  been  thus 
drawn  has  been  that  of  the  external  policy  of  nations,  and 
of  their  mutual — international — relations;  not  in  respect 
to  international  law,  on  which  I  have  no  claim  to  teach, 
but  to  the  examination  of  extant  conditions,  and  the  ap- 
preciation of  their  probable  and  proper  effect  upon  future 
events  and  present  action.  In  conception,  these  studies 
are  essentially  military.  The  conditions  are  to  my  appre- 
hension forces,  contending,  perhaps  even  conflicting ;  to  be 
handled  by  those  responsible  as  a  government  disposes  its 
fleets  and  armies.  This  is  not  advocacy  of  war,  but  recog- 
nition that  the  providential  movement  of  the  world  pro- 
ceeds through  the  pressure  of  circumstances;  and  that  ad- 
verse circumstances  can  be  controlled  only  by  organization 
of  means,  in  which  armed  physical  power  is  one  dominant 
factor. 

In  direct  result  from  the  line  of  thought  into  which  I  was 
drawn  by  my  conception  of  sea  power,  and  which  has  in- 
spired my  subsequent  magazine  writing,  I  am  frankly  an 
imperialist,  in  the  sense  that  I  believe  that  no  nation,  cer- 
tainly no  great  nation,  should  henceforth  maintain  the 
policy  of  isolation  which  fitted  our  early  history;  above 
all,  should  not  on  that  outlived  plea  refuse  to  intervene 
in  events  obviously  thru\st  upon  its  conscience.  The  world 
of  national  activities  has  become  crowded,  like  the  world 
of  professions;  opportunity,  consequently,  has  diminished, 
and  possibilities  must  be  cultivated  and  husbanded.  This 
is  the  primary  duty  of  a  government  to  its  own  people  and 
to  their  posterity.  But  there  are  other  duties  which  must 
be  accepted,  even  though  they  entail  national  sacrifice,  be- 
cause laid  at  the  nation's  door,  like  Cuba,  or  forced  upon 

324 


EXPERIENCES  OF  AUTHORSHIP 

its  decision,  like  the  Philippines.  I  see  too  clearly  in  my- 
self the  miserable  disposition  to  shirk  work  and  care,  and 
responsibility,  to  condone  the  same  in  nations.  I  once 
heard  a  preacher  thus  parody  effectively  the  words  of  the 
prophet — "Here  am  I,  send  him!''  And  I  have  heard  at- 
tributed to  the  late  Mr.  John  Hay  an  equally  telhng  allu- 
sion to  certain  of  our  moralists,  who  would  discard  the 
PhiUppines  on  the  score  of  danger  to  the  national  prin- 
ciples. Said  a  pious  girl,  "  When  I  realized  that  personal 
ornaments  were  dragging  my  immortal  soul  to  hell,  I  gave 
them  to  my  sister."  Still  less,  let  us  hope,  will  one  of  the 
wealthiest  of  nations,  almost  alone  in  the  possession  of  an 
abundant  surplus  income,  desert  a  charge  on  the  poor  plea 
of  economy ;  or  so  far  distrust  its  fate,  as  to  turn  its  back 
upon  a  duty,  because  dangerous  or  troublesome.  If  the 
political  independence  of  the  Philippine  Islands  bid  fair 
to  result  in  the  loss,  or  lessening,  of  the  safeguards  of  per- 
sonal freedom  to  the  private  PhiUppine  islander,  the  mis- 
sion of  the  United  States  is  at  present  clear,  nor  can  it 
be  abandoned  without  national  discredit;  nay,  national 
crime.  Personal  liberty  is  a  greater  need  than  political 
independence,  the  chief  value  of  which  is  to  insure  the 
freedom  of  the  individual.  Similarly,  not  only  for  the  sake 
of  its  own  citizens,  but  for  the  world  at  large,  each  country 
should  diligently  watch  and  weigh  current  external  occur- 
rences; not  necessarily  to  meddle,  still  less  to  forsake  its 
proper  sphere,  but  because  convinced  that  failure  to  act 
when  occasion  demands  may  be  as  injurious  as  mistaken 
action,  and  indicates  a  more  dangerous  condition,  in  that 
moral  inadequacy  means  ultimately  material  decline. 
When  the  spirit  leaves  the  body,  the  body  decays. 

In  these  subjects  and  my  way  of  viewing  them,  I  sup- 
pose that  ten  years  ago,  before  our  war  with  Spain,  I  was 
ahead  of  the  times,  at  least  in  my  own  country,  and  to  some 
extent  helped  to  turn  thought  into  present  channels;  much 

325 


FROM  SAIL  TO  STEAM 

as  to  my  exposition  of  sea  power  has  been  credited  a  part 
of  the  impulse  to  naval  development  which  characterizes 
to-day.  Immediately  after  the  Spanish  War  I  seemed  to 
some,  if  I  may  trust  their  words,  to  have  done  a  bit  of 
prophecy;  while  others  laid  to  my  door  a  chief  share  in 
the  mistaken  direction  they  considered  the  country  to 
be  taking.  Of  course,  I  was  pleased  by  this;  I  have  never 
pretended  to  be  above  flattery  judiciously  administered; 
but,  while  confident  still  in  the  main  outlook  of  my 
writing,  I  know  too  well  that,  when  you  come  to  details, 
prediction  is  a  matter  of  hit  or  miss,  and  that  I  have 
often  missed  as  well  as  hit  in  particulars.  "It  is  all  a 
matter  of  guess,"  said  Nelson,  when  tied  down  to  a  specific 
decision,  "but  the  world  attributes  wisdom  to  him  who 
guesses  right."  This  is  less  true  of  the  big  questions  and 
broad  lines  of  contemporary  history.  There  insight  can 
discern  really  something  of  tendencies;  enough  to  guide 
judgment  or  suggest  reflection.  But  I  am  now  sixty-seven, 
and  can  recognize  in  myself  a  growing  conservatism, 
which  may  probably  limit  me  henceforth  to  bare  keep- 
ing up  with  the  procession  in  the  future  national  march. 
Perhaps  I  may  lag  behind.  With  years,  speculation  as 
well  as  action  becomes  less  venturesome,  and  I  look  in- 
creasingly to  the  changeless  past  as  the  quiet  field  for  my 
future  labors. 


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